Key Points
She is a prime example of sustaining tradition by conscious modifications, adjustments, recreations and adaptations to remain relevant to the people and the society it serves, for tradition to remain living...
Raghiah Chary, writes in 1806 about textual source of gestures of Bharatanatyam and describes their meaning as given in Abhinaya Darpana which Rukmini Devi used on the suggestion of Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai and the post-1960s generation of dance historians saw this as textualization and Sanskritization of the dance form...
In the performances of Shantha Rao, Radha Sriram, Mrinalini Sarabhai and Ramgopal, all trained by Rukmini Devis guru, the great nattuvanar Meenakshisundaram Pillai, who also designed the curriculum at Kalakshetra, one notices movements that were even sharper than Kalakshetra..
A horde of young middle-class girls, inspired by a sprightly and graceful movie star called Kumari Kamala, trained by the iconic nattuvanar Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai, flocked to the dance schools of hereditary nattuvanars for Bharatanatyam training..
With the new interest around the world in Indian dance, a great interest in finding the traditional compositions taught in the hereditary style was sought after, particularly by non-Indians and Indians brought up outside the milieu, even if their dance was always informed by their own circumstances of birth, education and influences..
