C.V. Chandrasekhar throughout a efficiency at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mylapore in Chennai.
| Picture Credit score: JOTHI RAMALINGAM B
A flight of steps led to the College of Performing Arts at Baroda’s Maharaja Sayajirao College. The uncovered brick work facade and distinctive picket structure appeared to carry inside them a slice of the nation’s wealthy cultural previous.
It was a heat morning within the month of June in 1987, C.V. Chandrasekhar (fondly known as CVC) , the Head of the Division, was in his workplace. He sat ramrod straight within the chair, clearly explaining to these of us who had come for an admission check what the powerful curriculum entailed. our nervous expressions, he comforted us the following minute saying there was nothing fallacious in fearing challenges, however that ought to not are available in the way in which of pursuing one’s ardour. Behind the disciplinary veneer was a dedicated trainer prepared to assist us embrace each the rigour and pleasure of the journey.
The campus echoed with the sounds of dancing ft and devices as CVC obtained up and walked to the massive prayer and follow corridor. The second he entered, there was hushed silence and the scholars rapidly organized themselves in straight rows. The women have been clad in crisp cotton Bharatanatyam coaching costume, the hair neatly tied right into a bun or plaited, bindis on their brow, and matching bangles and earrings. The boys, few in quantity, wore pristine white cotton dhotis and quick kurtas. Beneath the hawk-eyed gaze of their guru, they started to recite the prayer. Their eloquent arms assumed totally different mudras and the physique varied poses. For CVC, coaching was not restricted to mastering the approach, it additionally prolonged to impeccable look and proper perspective.
C.V. Chandrasekar acting at Narada Gana Sabha in Chennai on December 16, 2009.
| Picture Credit score:
RAVINDRAN R
Prayer over, the primary and second yr college students of the commencement course moved to their respective lecture rooms, whereas the seniors stayed again to carry out the padam taught by CVC. Hanging the thattukazhai (used for nattuvangam), he indicated simply by way of his eyes and facial expressions his displeasure or satisfaction. The scholars watched him in awe as he briefly stopped to speak about the necessity to internalise the rhythm, phrases and feelings.
As a guru and a performer, CVC’s persona remained the identical. Unassuming and forthright have been traits that got here to thoughts once you met him. His perception in his artwork was so sturdy and deep that he brooked no compromise or reached out for favours. With a wonderfully aligned physique, his actions mixed intense physicality and mental sensibility. His expressive face gave life to the lyrics of the compositions he danced to.
C.V. Chandrasekhar throughout a lecture demonstration at The Music Academy, in Chennai, on January 05, 2008.
| Picture Credit score:
GANESAN V
After his educating stint at Baroda, CVC moved to Chennai, a metropolis the place he had educated beneath inimitable gurus at Kalakshetra. It was right here that his mentor Rukmini Devi opened his eyes to the probabilities on the earth of dance and past it.
Whilst CVC grappled with the shifts the artwork type was then experiencing, his method to bounce remained reverent. And this method typically left him pissed off since he felt the emphasis on contemporariness accorded no area for the soul.
Slowly, nevertheless, he got here to phrases with the concept of performing for a brand new age viewers however, for him, dance was not a showcase, it was an intimate train, a sharing of feelings.
College students of C. V. Chandrasekhar performing for the Parampara Competition at Kamani Auditorium, in New Delhi on September 24, 2005.
| Picture Credit score:
SANDEEP SAXENA
Once I met him as soon as after an experimental efficiency, he was a bit piqued by the artiste’s weird method to the shape. Dance, he all the time reiterated, shouldn’t be checked out in isolation. Innovation ought to occur organically. One of the vital vital points of his inventive oeuvre was the shut relationship between motion and music. Other than being an influential performer and choreographer, CVC sang and composed too. His works conveyed the potential and energy of dance as an expression of the human spirit — they have been the end result of his lengthy, arduous journey of studying and discovery, and the wrestle to seek out acceptance as a male Bharatanatyam dancer. But he carved a distinct segment for himself at his personal tempo and on his personal phrases.
