Credo of a Dancer - Part 1 l Who was Balasaraswati behind all the eulogies and accolades l MOPA

‘Credo of a Dancer’is an hour-long documentary specially produced by MOPA Foundation as part of an in-depth exhibition on T Balasaraswati during her birth centenary in 2019, in collaboration with Balasaraswati Institute of Performing Arts, Chennai. This is the 1st part of the documentary.
Look out for never-before-seen footage of Birju Maharaj, Ravi Shankar, Uday Shankar, Ra Ganapathy, Rukmini Devi and many others. These were shot in the 1970s but never saw the light of day.

So why Balasaraswati?

Hers is an important story – of hard work bordering on penance, uncompromising standards and sheer grit. As a young child, how did she bear the severe and relentless training under Kandappa and her mother? She is said to have collected dolls throughout her travels. It was her way of compensating for lack of a regular childhood, as she once hinted. How did it feel to have her way of life and system of beliefs suddenly outlawed? What was her fall back?
This documentary is a mission to facilitate connections between such stories and a world which is increasingly disconnected from its past. The situations or challenges Balasaraswati faced are the same we face or future generations will face – maybe in a different avatar or packaging – but a lot can be learnt from how she faced them.

Acknowledgements

Resource Material and Photographs

o Balasaraswati – Her Art and Life – by Douglas M. Knight Jr
o Sangeet Natak Akademi’s quarterly journal 1984
o Journal of the National Center for Performing Arts, Bombay
o Bala on Bharatanatyam – Compiled and Translated by S. Guhan; Published by The Sruti Foundation, Madras
o Sruti issues 23/23-S, 27-28, 1984 March issue - © Sruti Foundation
o Archives of The Hindu
o Archives of Dr V. Raghavan Centre for Performing Arts
o Translated excerpts from Aadal Paadal by Kalki: Kalai Sirakka, Konjan Sirikka
o Balasaraswati – by Narayana Menon; Published by the Inter-National Cultural Centre, New Delhi
o Balasaraswati – a publication of the Balasaraswati School of Music and Dance, USA
o The Music of Bharatanatyam – Doctoral Dissertation by Jon Higgins, Wesleyan 1973

Audio Excerpts

o Balasaraswati Institute of Performing Arts, Chennai
o World Music Archive, Wesleyan University, CT, USA
o Private collection of Ravindra Narayanan

Films
o Balasaraswati – Wesleyan University, 1962
o Bala – Directed by Satyajit Ray, Produced by the Government of India and National Centre for Performing Arts, Bombay

Video Excerpts
o Born to the Tradition: A Tribute to Bala – by Smita Shah; © Balasaraswati Institute of Performing Arts
o T Balasaraswati Documentary ©Aniruddha Knight 2006
o Luise Scripps – Tribute by Eva Soltes - vimeo.com/167272996
o Divine Legacy of Balasaraswati – with Luise Scripps and Bob Brown – vimeo.com/67805659

Interviews
produced by MOPA Foundation; ©MOPA Foundation
(T M Krishna, Aniruddha Knight, Usha Sivakumar, Ranjani Menon, Aggie Brenneman, Eva Soltes, Nandini Ramani)

Script and Voice Over
Savita Narasimhan

Digitisation and Videography
Prashanth Balaji and Nivedha Shankar

Video Editing and CG
Jackin Skims

MOPA thanks Kauvery Hospitals, Aim for Seva and Curatio for their support in this project.

Produced by
MOPA FOUNDATION ©2019