Kanak Rele reinvented a distinct Mohiniyattam style

Kanak Rele
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Kanak Rele’s passing marks the end of an epoch in the history of Mohiniyattam, the lyrical dance form of Kerala. For more than half a century, she strode like a colossus over the country’s terpsichorean arenas, resuscitating and enriching the dance. In this pursuit, she succeeded in placing Mohiniyattam on a pedestal with a strong foundation of shastras, including Natya Shastra, Balaramabharatham and Hastalakshanadeepika.

Kanak Rele helped come up with a logical pedagogy and introduced it in her institution, Nalanda Nritya Kala Mahavidyalaya, which was established in 1972 to popularise her style.

Thanks to Kanak Rele’s efforts, the institution was affiliated to the University of Bombay, becoming the first in the country to award the degrees of BFA, MFA and later Ph.D in Mohiniyattam — something no institution in Mohiniyattam’s land of origin Kerala could boast of.

Though Kanak Rele was selected for a medical course, she chose to study law and graduated from Manchester University, U.K., with specialisation in aviation law and was offered a lucrative job in Air India. Then why did she choose dance?

She had explained once, “In the long life of mine there is one word that comes through as a thread that binds all other strands, and that is dance”.

It was during Kanak Rele’s days as a child in Santiniketan, Kolkata, that she had her first tryst with Kathakali. She had her initiation under Raghavan Nair. Once, dancer Uday Shankar, who was visiting Shantiniketan, blessed her and encouraged her to pursue training. This continued at home in Mumbai under Panchali Karunakara Panikkar for many years, though she had to face stiff resistance from relatives who described Kathakali as ‘rakshasi dance’. Before long, she turned into a consummate performer.

Kanak Rele was deeply in love with the art forms of Kerala since. When she was selected for the first Guru Gopinath National Puraskaram, instituted by the Government of Kerala in 2019, she said, “All these years, I had identified myself with the people of Kerala, and now your government too has endorsed it”.

She was initiated into Mohiniyattam by Kalamandalam P.N. Rajalakshmi, a Kathakali performer, who was in Mumbai. The exquisite charm of lasya attracted her and she was determined to delve into the roots of the dance form that had its first revival during the period of Swati Tirunal (19th century), and vanished from the arc lights, thanks to the degeneration it underwent later, owing to a variety of reasons. The dance form had to wait until 1932 to be revived by poet Vallathol Narayana Menon. Even after three decades, it was yet to regain a solid form.

A study grant from Sangeet Natak Akademi at this juncture was a blessing as it enabled Kanak Rele to meet the surviving performers and scholars who could enlighten her about the evolutionary stages of Mohiniyattam. Her pursuit received further impetus, thanks to a grant from the Ford Foundation. She met surviving exponents such as Kalpurathe Kunjukutty Amma, Thottassery Chinnammu Amma and Kalamandalam Kalyanikutty Amma and filmed them. Incidentally, the recordings are a prized possession in the archives of her institution in Mumbai. A thorough analysis of these dancers’ performances helped her formulate a basic structure.

As part of this process, Kanak Rele met thespian Kavalam Narayana Panicker, an acclaimed authority of the esoteric cultural ethos of Kerala. The oft-repeated criticism that Mohiniyattam appeared ‘a poor cousin of Bharatanatyam’, could be eliminated as she introduced Sopana Sangeetham and its talas with the help of Narayana Panicker. To her surprise, she realised that the basic oscillating movements that Mohiniyattam embraced were beautifully aided by the gamakas of Sopana Sangeetham and talas thereby giving the dance form the indigenous flavour of Kerala.

This led to the birth of the much-lauded ‘Kanak Rele style’ of Mohiniyattam. Myriad priceless productions choreographed with the help of Narayana Panicker are preserved in the archives of her institution, Nalanda, and taught there too.

Kanak Rele’s bewitching style fetched her innumerable accolades. She was the first Mohiniyattam dancer to be awarded by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the first to be honoured by the Government of India with a Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan, and the Kalidas Samman. Books authored by her, including  Bhava Niroopana and  Mohiniyattam – The Lyrical Dance are part of the curriculum at institutions, even in Kerala, that teach Mohiniyattam at the university level.