Of art and music: Blending tradition and sense of thematic flavour in his movements
He is a Bhagavathamela artiste, an ancient Telugu theatre art tradition that thrives in Melattur, with over three decades of experience in the field. Vijay Madhavan had his doctorate from Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi Vishwa Maha Vidhyala. A senior national scholarship holder, he has won awards and accolades from various associations from all over India, Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar from Sangeetha Natak Akademi, the best dancer award from Indian Fine Arts Society and NartakaNipuna, best male dancer award from the Association of Bharatanatyam Artists of India.
Vijay, a senior disciple of dance maestro Chithra Vissweswaran, had his vocal tutelage under Swamimalai Janakiraman, obtained proficiency in nattuvangam from his guru. When it was generally felt that only girls could dance with skill and elegance, ‘I wanted to prove that with width and depth of abhinaya and variety and uncluttered movements, male dancers could dance with equal skill and elegance’, he says. The globetrotter who has toured countries like the US, the UK, Germany and Sri Lanka is the founder of Rechita Nrutyalaya and has trained several students.
He takes immense pride in recalling his performance with legendary Gurus Kelucharan Mohapatra and Dr Padma Subrahmanyam. He also reminisces the days, when he used to perform several duet shows with his guru Chitra Visweswaran. He also talks about training sessions with the children at Sivananda Guruklulam (a home for the underprivileged children) and beams with pride, his contribution towards helping mentally and intellectually disabled of Singapore by staging his programme as a fundraiser show and his performance at the Birmingham Festival.
Vijay emphasises on thematic presentations and says that he makes an attempt to create an interactive fulfilment for artists and art lovers-seeking to bring the awareness of the original intention of the traditional dance form. His choreographed production conceptualised by him in ‘Alwar Innamudam’ during the 1,000th year of Sri Ramanujacharya outlining the ideology of Vaishnavism brings forth the vision of the Lord in his multitudinous forms of Saulabya. He also illustrates his deeds of glory, revealing the expression of human emotions. Undoubtedly he is a talented dancer who infuses spontaneity in the characters he portrays.
(The writer is a well known music critic who has won awards both in India and abroad for propagation of classical arts and music)
