Dhananjayans

V.P Dhananjayan & Shanta Dhananjayan
Born	Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Website	www.bharatakalaanjali.org

Vannadil Pudiyaveettil Dhananjayan and Shanta Dhananjayan, popularly known as the Dhananjayans are regarded as the legendary dancing couple of India.

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  V.P.Dhananjayan and Satyajit Dhananjayan

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  V.P.Dhananjayan and Satyajit Dhananjayan

Personal life

V.P Dhananjayan was born on 17 April 1939 in Payyanur, Kerala, India, a village with a longstanding cultural heritage. He was born into a family with eight children struggling to make ends meet, when a chance meeting with Guru Chandu Panicker of Kalakshetra made his father decide purely on instinct to send his son and V.Balagopalan to Kalakshetra under his tutelage. Dhananjayan joined Kalakshetra on 5 October 1953 and was a leading male dance under Rukmini Devi (founder of Kalakshetra) from 1955-1967. He graduated from Kalakshetra with a Post Graduate Diploma in Dance (Bharatanatyam and Kathakali) with distinction, and also holds a B.A in Economics and Politics.

Shanta Dhananjayan was born on 12 August 1943 into a well to do Indian family in Malaysia and traces her ancestry back to Kerala from where her family migrated to Malaysia. She was a child prodigy and by the time she was 3, her parents were convinced that Shanta would be a dancer. They found in her, an inborn response to dance and joy of movement and decided to send her to India for her education. They sent her to Kalakshetra as an 8 year old in June 1952, a year before Dhananjayan, where she later graduated with a Post Graduate Diploma with distinction in Bharatanatyam and also learned Kathakali and Carnatic music. She was a leading female dancer from 1955-1968.

The couple have 2 sons. The elder son Sanjay lives with his wife in the USA and their younger son Satyajit^[1] is an accomplished automobile photographer and dancer who lives with his wife and son in Chennai, India. ^[2]

In Kalakshetra

Were it not for providence in the form of Guru Chandu Panicker, Dhananjayan would have been working in some monotonous job in Kerala. Dhananjayan received a scholarship at Kalakshetra to study Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Mridangam and music. Shanta trained in Bharatanatyam and music apart from other subjects for nearly a decade. They believe that whatever they have been able to achieve today is due to the painstaking mentoring of their Gurus Rukmini Devi Arundale and Chandu Panicker and various other faculty members of Kalakshetra such as NS Jayalakshmi and Sarada Hoffman.

While at Kalakshetra, it was love at first sight for Dhananjayan. Shanta was the first girl he met as he was being escorted into the portals of Kalakshetra by Guru Panicker. Though Shanta was a serious student completely devoted to her dance and music, she had secretly made up her mind, at the age of 12, to partner Dhananjayan in life. Dhananjayan expressed his desire to marry Shanta when she was 18, but she left for Malaysia after graduation and did not let him know of her consent till after returning to India 4 years later. They married in 1966 at the Guruvayoor Temple in Kerala. Maybe each would have independently carved a niche in the dance world, but together they created a force, which would take the world of dance by storm.

Career - Dancing Duo

The Dhananjayans left Kalakshetra in the late 1960s to build a career on their own. During that time, only the wealthy and aristocrats who could spend to have their own children perform, dominated the dance scene in Chennai. However, the caliber of the Dhananjayans was such that they stole the thunder with their novel ideas that they brought to their presentations through a unique repertoire that they developed. The vitality of dance, their costumes, the attraction of merging of the male and female dance principles in specially conceived duets, were all part of the charisma of their performances. It was no wonder that they started to receive invitations from both within the country and from abroad. They have traveled all over the world to all major cultural centers to present their art.

Some of their major performances/productions include:^[3]

• Pandit Ravi Shankar's Magnum Opus "GHANASHYAM" 1989/90
• National Dance Institute, New York "CHAKRA", with a cast of 1,000 multinational children
• A joint venture of Ohio Ballet Co., Cuyahoga Community College and Cleveland Cultural Alliance - Jungle Book Ballet
• Choreographer for International Art Festival of Government of Singapore, "Sita Rama Katha" 1986 In the same festival, choreographed dance drama "Sanghamitra" with Singapore Artistes 1994
• Mahaabhaaratham dance drama jointly produced by French Theatre Fluerry & Association Vaani in Reunion French Island 1998, 1999

Teaching

The Dhananjayans excel as amazing teachers. Their students think of them as gods. They teach with a difference. Not only do the dhananjayans teach bharathanatyam. They also teach everyone Indian tradition and culture. Some details which the Dhananjayans are particular about would be:

---Wearing a bindi. (Making sure that the bindi is big as well) ---Using the term "Samskrutam" instead of "Sanskrit". ---Using the term "Natyam" instead of "Dance"

Bharata Kalanjali

The Dhananjayans started they own dance school Bharata Kalanjali in 1968 in Adyar, Chennai. From a modest start with just a handful of students, today Bharata Kalanjali is a premier academy of dance and music with several hundreds of students and a repertory fashioned out of its own students and graduates.

Bhaaskara

Dhananjayans established an academy of arts at his birthplace Payyanur in Kerala. They used to visit this academy every year during the summer to teach a Naatya Gurukulam camp. But, now the gorukulam has shut down.

Yogaville

The Dhananjayans have been conducting the summer Gurukulam camps at the Satchidananda Ashram, Yogaville, Virginia, USA, annually since 1988. This camp, a concentrated course developed by the Natya Adyayana Gurukulam, in the beautiful Virginia countryside, has helped spread awareness of Indian culture and values to American born Indian children, and other students of different parts of the globe, to understand the values of Indian art and culture, and of course, philosophy and significance of Indian mythology and the characters in the epics. It is an intensive, full-time residential course devoted entirely to the fine arts.

Honours

Some of the major awards and accolades conferred on the Dhananjayans:

• Padma Bhushan, Government of India, 2009
• Nritya Rathnakara, Cleveland Aradhana, USA, 2009
• A doctarte from Vaels university, 2009
• Live Magazine Achievement Award (Ohio State Academy Award) 1997 (for the best Theatrical Production of the year '96-97 for jungle book dance choreography for Ohio Ballet Company)
• Plaque of Honour awarded by the Governor of Ohio State for excellent Community Service and International Understanding through Art 1996
• Sangeet Natak Academy Award, Government of India, 1994
• Kerala Sangeet Natak Academy Fellowship, 1993
• Kalaimamani Award, Tamil Nadu Government, 1990
• Haridas Sammelan Sursingar Sansad Mumbai "Nrityavillas" Award 1989
• Munshi Centenary Commemorative Award, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, London UK 1988
• UNESCO Paris, Medallion De Merit 1984
• Nritya Choodamani, Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai, 1983
• Scroll of Honour Arts and Crafts Magazine, New Delhi awarded by then Vice President Hon, K.R.Narayanan

Social issues and Politics

Dhananjayan has the reputation of voicing his views and is very forthright in speaking out about social and political issues. His recent publication Beyond performing art and culture, talks about various social and political issues concerning present day India or Bhaaratam, the way he urges everyone to call the country.^[4]

Publications

V.P Dhananjayan is a prolific writer and writes not only on dance but also on social and political issues. His publications include:

• Beyond Performing Art and Culture : Politico-Socio Aspects, V.P. Dhananjayan. New Delhi, B.R. Rhythms, 2007, xviii, 314 p., ills, ISBN 81-88827-08-8.
• Dhananjayan on Indian Classical Dance, V.P Dhananjayan, B.R Rhythms, 2004, 3rd revised edition, ISBN 8188827045

References

1. ^ Studio Satyajit official Website
2. ^ Bharata Kalanjali Website - Biography
3. ^ Dancer on Dance, V.P Dhananjayan, Bharata Kalanjali
4. ^ Beyond Performing Art and Culture: Politico-Socio Aspects, V.P. Dhananjayan. New Delhi, B.R. Rhythms, 2007, xviii, 314 p., ills, ISBN 81-88827-08-8

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Place of birth	Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
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