Seminar on Rukmini Devi

Rukmini Devi would be turning in her grave. Yes, that's what it looks like at this time of the century, when every other person in the arts is either holding a seminar or dedicating a dance performance to her. The entire nation is celebrating the birth centenary of this legendary dancer and it seems to be time now for her students, grand-students and her close associates to talk about her to the present generation.

Centre for Contemporary Culture, New Delhi and Kartik Fine Arts organised a one-day seminar on Rukmini Devi, on Dec. 19 at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's auditorium.

At the morning session, Radha Burnier, niece of Rukmini Devi and President of the Theosophical Society spoke about Rukmini Devi as a theosophist. Dancer Lakshmi Viswanathan presented a paper on 'Rukmini Devi's approach to tradition and beyond'. She shared her thoughts on Rukmini Devi's life, Kalakshetra, her choreographies, costumes and more... She said about this revolutionary dancer, "Rukmini Devi did not have an arangetram and her debut performance was as daring as her marriage. And she was never in the race for performance opportunities."

Krishnaveni Lakshmanan, shared anecdotes about her Guru and recalled, "When I played the role of Sita in 'Choodamani Pradhanam', athai (Rukmini Devi) presented me a Choodamani (a head jewel) as a gift".

Avanti Medhuri from Delhi (who organised the seminar) said that her relationship with Rukmini Devi was only 'indirect' because she has only watched the Kalakshetra dance dramas. Having researched about Rukmini Devi in the U.S., she said that the western scholars think of Rukmini Devi as a 'problematic figure'!

There were more deliberations and dancer V.P. Dhananjayan chaired the seminar.

In the evening, Krishnaveni Lakshmanan was honoured with the 'Rukmini Devi medal'. Following a dance performance by Meenakshi Srinivasan, a dance drama, 'Rukmini Devi - Deergadarshini' was presented by students of Krishnaveni Lakshmanan.

But at a seminar like this, where were the students of Kalakshetra and the dance fraternity? Were they informed about this in advance or were they invited?

One probably wished Rukmini Devi was alive to witness all this!