How Sudha Raghuraman is challenging the old hierarchies of Bharatanatyam

The famously fastidious and sharp-tongued Carnatic veena legend Dhanammal, whose music salons riveted Chennai in the early 20th century, was once asked why she attended the Bharatanatyam performances led by the great dance guru Meenakshisundaram Pillai. “To hear Meenakshisundaram sing, of course, what else?” she retorted.

This was a time in Bharatanatyam’s history when its all-powerful gurus, or nattuvanars, were eclectic maestros – they taught, choreographed, sang, conducted recitals and articulated rhythm patterns on stage. Often, given the kind of spaces where dance was performed, they even moved with the dancer in the arena.

Over half a century, the radical evolution of Bharatanatyam changed much of this, separating roles and reformatting the stage. The musicians now sit on the sidelines, and this is where you are likely to spot Carnatic singer and dance vocalist Sudha Raghuraman – normally. But something unusual happened three months ago in Delhi, when dancer Rama Vaidyanathan staged her new choreography, Maalyada, a tribute to the rainbow moods in Andal’s bhakti poetry.

Raghuraman sat on a perch off centre stage as the dance unfurled with Vaidyanathan and her troupe switching between verses set to as many as 12 ragas by Raghuraman. And at one point, the singer even had a brief role when...

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