Propagating the Heritage: Chinta Ravi Balakrishna

Some men are born to be artistes. They define their life through the prism of their art. 27 year old Chinta Ravi Balakrishna is such a man. Winner of the Sangeet Natak Akademi’s Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for the year 2009, recipient of the singular honor of Yuva Sutradhari at the Siddhendra Yogi Nrityotsav in 2007, Gold Medallist M.A Kuchipudi, apart from a host of other awards, Chinta Ravi Balakrishna is a person who has that rare passion to keep the art form of his ancestors gloriously alive.

Q1. Can you share one unforgettable memory of you with your Guru?

I want to share not one but two unforgettable memories! I have had the fortune of learning under the best of the Gurus hailing from the Kuchipudi Bhagavathulu families. I have trained under Gurus like Natyabhushanam Sri Chinta Ramamurthy (father), Sri Korada Narsimha Rao, Sri Chinta Ramanatham, Sri Vedantham Sathyanarayana Sarma and others, who are all stalwarts of our dance form. The best part for me was that they were not only my Gurus but my family elders.

I remember sleeping beside them as a young child, when they used to tell me stories about our ancestors, the hardships they faced for livelihood, and yet how they never did once forsake their art form. They used to tell us not just mythological tales from our wonderful dance dramas, but tales of everyday life also, apart from dance lessons. This has had a huge influence on making me the person I am today.

The second indelible memory I cherish has been training with Padmasri Sri Vedantham Sathyanarayana Sarma. What an amazing man! His abhinaya is unrivaled in a stree veysham, I am fortunate to have imbibed at least some of my meager knowledge from him!

Q2. How important do you think the knowledge of reading /writing /speaking Telugu is to the learning of Kuchipudi?

Because of the vachika Abhinaya in our art form, I deem a working knowledge of Telugu very important for the dancer. It is not just that they will be able to deliver dialogues well or lip sync well. Part of the joy of dancing comes from knowing the intricacies of the Sahithyam. Telugu is a sweet language, and Kuchipudi Sahithyam is also an important component of Telugu literature. Words have been melded in a very lyrical musical way, and the appreciation of the dexterity of using the language will also increase the happiness of the dancer, which will in turn translate into rasanubhava for the spectator.

Q3. What aspects of nritta (pure dance) as well as abhinaya (expressive dance) do you feel are fundamental to Kuchipudi?

Not just to Kuchipudi, but to all dance drama forms, the subject matter taken up for treatment is the main important part. All those aspects which help in the impactful delivery of the subject matter to the audience are important. Nritta in terms of Tandava for an angry Shiva, or Abhinaya in terms of a waiting Nayika in a Padam – importance to Nritta or Abhinaya depends on the situation. However, everything ultimately rests on how well the dancer is able to inject the message forth into the audience. Mukhaja Abhinaya, Hasta Bhedas, Greeva Bhedas, Sancharis all these are not mere technical terms; they have been crafted with a specific purpose, and a logical combination of these is the best way to achieve the goal of satisfying the audience.

Yuva Sutradhari awardee Chinta Ravi Balakrishna as Sutradhari, with Padma Sri Vedantham Sathyanarayana Sarma

Q4. How tough is it to make Kuchipudi a career nowadays and how tough has it been for you?

For me personally, it has been a fairly straightforward choice belonging to a family whose traditional livelihood for generations has been this dance, as you can understand. But yes, it is not easy nowadays for a person to make a career out of Kuchipudi. Along with changing social mores, the expectations of  teachers, learners and audiences have changed, and make it tough for making Kuchipudi as a career. That said, I don’t think that all is lost. There are many young dancers taking to our art form all over the world.

Q7. As a future torchbearer of classical dance, what is your impression of the current state of Kuchipudi? Do you feel there is sufficient awareness about Kuchipudi as compared to other dance forms?

There is a lot of awareness about Kuchipudi at the higher levels like the international scene and the national scene. Every prominent city in India (and the USA for that matter) has a Kuchipudi dance School. The problem I believe is lack of grassroot awareness. People in our own state of Andhra Pradesh lack awareness about Kuchipudi.

Especially in interior areas and villages, that cultural awareness really has been lost. Culture which has originated here, has been taken out of its context. It has become a pursuit for the urbane, while rural India is bursting at its seems in a mad rush to come out of poverty, with the booming economy. This is what we need to address. For only when grassroot awareness explodes, a universal awareness and acceptance of the dance form becomes feasible. For my own part, I have voluntarily decided to forsake opportunities elsewhere and reside only in Kuchipudi village spreading the art of my ancestors.

Chinta Ravi Balakrishna with father and Guru, Natyabhushanam (Late) Sri Chinta Ramamurthy

Q8. What do you feel about innovations in ahaaryam (costumes/makeup) and stage lighting etc. in Kuchipudi performances?

I feel any such innovations should serve the primary purpose of getting the message across to the audience. Innovation for innovation’s sake is meaningless. Anything and everything should not be called innovation. Ahaarya Abhinaya should be suggestive of the character, but it should not be the mainstay of the character, with nothing else in it. Similarly, the stage lighting effects etc., should serve to strengthen the story-telling, not steal focus away from it.

Q9. How do you think the change into an entirely solo format augurs for Kuchipudi in the future?

I cannot imagine Kuchipudi going away from its dance drama roots. So long as we tell stories in our plays and ballets, our dance drama repertoire will remain. It is upto us to make the best use of it. If it has survived to this day, it means it has something very appealing in it. We should tap that. However, some traditions of the Kuchipudi dance drama are dying. Pagati Veyshalu is an instance.

Though seemingly rustic, Pagati Veyshalu require complete “anukarana” of very characteristic traits of Veyshams like “Fakir Veysham” (Quran quoting Sufi saint), or “Budabukkala Veysham” (a tribal soothsayer) or “Saraswathi Veysham” (Goddess Saraswathi) etc. It demands complex “Parakaya Pravesham” so to speak, an entering into the body of the character with full immersion. Kuchipudi Bhagavathulu were known for this. In the night, wherever they toured they hosted Kuchipudi performances. In the morning they donned these roles, hence the name Pagati veyshalu (Morning Roles). There used to be over a 100 such pagati veyshams in the Kuchipudi repertoire. Today many have been lost. I am fortunate to have learned a few from my father. Perhaps I am one of the extremely few in the younger generation to do so!

Q10. As a front ranking Kuchipudi artiste of the younger generation, what do you feel the new generation of dancers can do to eradicate Sabha/ Award politics etc?

As I said earlier, such things can only change when a change from the grassroots starts. Such a change can only occur via the concerted efforts of the Government, Gurus and artists. Once awareness is created, transparency ensues, and the need/chance for such politics ceases to exist.

Q11. How has Kuchipudi shaped you as a person?

My father used to tell me, “I did not beget you for my sake, I begot you for the sake of the art of our ancestors, so keep that in mind always”.

What else can I say? Whatever I am today, it is because of this art, the Gurus who taught me this art, and the family from which I come, which has depended on this art for hundreds of years, not just for livelihood, but for the very purpose of existence itself.

Chinta Ravi Balakrishna receiving the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar 2009 for Kuchipudi from Sangeet Natak Akademi Vice Chairman Sri Ratan Thiyam while Sri Jayant Kastuar looks on.

(Note:  This is an English translation of an interview conducted in Telugu.)