Credo of a Dancer - Part 2 l Who was Balasaraswati behind all the eulogies and accolades l MOPA

The 2nd, concluding part of Credo of a Dancer looks at Bala’s artistic graph in the second half of her life. It has several frontline organizers talking about the success of her tours and residencies in the west. Students recall their time with her.
Here was a dancer who stood at a very interesting point in India’s cultural history - where she seemed to be synthesising ideas of tradition and change, of history and modernity, of the sacred and sensual, of heritage and transition. Trying to navigate these unchartered paths, she must surely have had many moments of uncertainty, doubt and anxiety. Yet, her faith in her art shines through.
With rare footage made available by her grandson @aniruddhaknight & @Balasaraswatiinstituteofperformingarts this documentary provides several fresh perspectives to her life and art.
The impact of her art, such as we know today, will live on for all time.
Errata: S Guhan (1932 - 1998, and not 1948 as mentioned).
MOPA thanks Kauvery Hospitals, Aim for Seva and Curatio for their support in this project.
Acknowledgements
AV script 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 Documentary ©Aniruddha Knight 2006
o Luise Scripps - Tribute by Eva Soltes - vimeo.com/167272996
o Divine Legacy of Balasaraswati - with Luise Scrippa and Bob Brown - vimeo.com/67805659
interviews
produced by MOPA Foundation; ©MOPA Foundation
(Nandini Ramani, T M Krishna, Arundhathi Subramaniam, V Sriram, Usha Sivakumar, Ranjani Menon, Aggie Brenneman, Eva Soltes, Aniruddha Knight and his students)
curation and voice over for the documentary
Savita Narasimhan
digitisation and videography
Prashanth Balaji and Nivedha Shankar
video editing and CG
Jackin Skims
All text, photos, images and other data contained in The Credo of a Dancer are copyright 2017 of the Museum of Performing Arts (MOPA) Foundation. The same is intended for personal or educational use only and may not be used in any commercial form without prior written permission.
Produced by MOPA Foundation © 2019
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[@parthasarathyep5644]

Tears rolling on my cheaks when I am hearing how BALA the legend struggled both financially physically and mentally to come up in this art form which she solely placed in the international arena. Bharathanatyam performers and rasikas around the world should always be grateful to BALA.

[@narthaki]

Brilliant work. Living the other time you gave us a rare chance to feel her genius. I sensed her soul. Thank you!

[@sutanukapal7928]

It's an amazing experience to watch these documentaries

[@nagabhushana1150]

Beautiful video for posterity. Pranams.

[@naatyakalakshetra-bangalor6655]

Awesome compilation ,loved the journey of a great legend like Balamma

[@BGR2024]

Wow... Such a remarkable journey...

[@jayshrik]

Thank u so much for posting this!

[@neelimasridhar]

Great to see such iconic persona

[@aneeshgbanerjee]

8:11 passive aggression!

[@Powerpuff772]

And casteism, appropriation, erasure, outright stealing, all the worst things.

[@missbond7345]

Stealing what? Is knowledge something that could be stolen?

[@naatyakalakshetra-bangalor6655]

Wish you can put more of her solo performances with the place she performed ,it will be nice too

[@vedapushpa9803]

To Be Surely Preserved for Posterity.

[@Likit257]

I lost all respect for Rukmini Devi after this.. she seemed so so so jealous.. and i wondered if she killed the dance of all its complexities and nuances.. in her pursuit to "purify" ... what she said was barely flattering or nice..

[@mopa9946]

While everyone is free to draw their own conclusions from such documentaries, it is advisable to pause for a bit, to remind ourselves that there are many sides to a story, especially in an oral tradition such as the Indian performing arts. Any black and white interpretation, given how much time has passed and that the main protagonists are not around to clear the air, does not serve any constructive purpose.

[@Powerpuff772]

Rukmini Devi was a HORRIBLE person

[@Powerpuff772]

@@mopa9946please don’t excuse rukminis horrible behaviors. She was not this great legend that everyone makes her out to be and was credited for “reviving” an art form that never died in the first place. Such disgusting abuse of privilege, caste, and so much more. What vulgarities? Such a casteism and colonel white brainwashed statement. Bharatanatyam was perfect the way it was before rukmini devi walked her big butt into the class and unfortunately appropriated and stripped it of all its essences, creating something so alien and disgustingly far away from what it actually is so that it’d be “acceptable” to Brahmins and Victorian brainwashed “theosophicals” Really, really sad, yet she’s regarded today as some stupid “hero” and you all keep saying “revived” and rebirth. How can you say there was a revival for a tradition that NEVER DIED but was oppressed? Shame on Rukmini and here disgusting supporters. Casteism, colorism, body shaming, and sooooo many more underlying problems. OPPRESSION of and STEALING from hereditary families. Rukmini “learned” for a mere two years from hereditary artist Mylaopre Gowri ammal after she unfortunately agreed to teach her after being rightfully reluctant before going off and feeling the audacity to start that idiotic “Kalakshetra” in the name of Brahminical “purity” and all the other bullshit horrible casteist things. Shun the hereditary people and carry on with the upper class stealing their traditions??? Disgusting. Please don’t try to be neutral or credit both sides without knowing a damn thing. Even Bala’s Grandson seems to be white washed and brainwashed by the upper class appropriators unfortunately which is such a horrible shame. Anyways, stop praising appropriators and thieves.

[@Powerpuff772]

@@mopa9946 please shut up. There are not “many sides to this story” it was complete cultural appropriation, casteism, and THEFT committed by people like Rukmini Arundale and E Krishna Iyer in pure brahminical hindutva cleansing and “purity” and to erase hereditary families and lineage whom these arts belong to. Bharatanatyam and Carnatic. please don’t comment on things when you don’t know a damn thing about them.

[@missbond7345]

It is easy to judge when we are in the comforts of posterity and hindsight. With Rukmini Devi, would Bharatanatyam even have survived until now? India was under colonial rule that was Victorian & having puritan elements was necessary to make it socially acceptable. And now we can talk about bringing back other aesthetics but first for it to be brought back, it had to survive.