Pune:
Alarmel Valli credits the lessons in letter writing for her crisp and clear choreography. Her mother always told her to edit, proofread, then edit again. That, she shares, is the formula to her crystal clear choreography.
"My mother always told me to start with something interesting that would keep the audience engrossed and ensure a conclusion that would make them remember the performance. That is exactly what I do when I choreograph my pieces," says the 60-year-old Bhartnatyam exponent.
In the city to perform at the Nupurnaad Festival on Saturday, as Valli reflects on her life and dance one cannot help but be mesmerized by the grace of her hands that move to explain the context of various incidents.
Valli has a six-decade-long tryst with dance. Before she could see the dancer in herself, her mother had spotted the talent. "I was too young to realize how great dance is. My mother was a lady of artistic sensitivity and she took me to Chokkalingam Pillai and Subbaraya Pillai. I was a dreamer and lacked focus. I did not have the kind of commitment serious dancing demands," recalls Valli. Her mother Uma Muthukumaraswamy always told her that dance is a sacred commitment and art is greater than anyone.
Until the age of 16, Valli aspired to be an astrophysicist or a diplomat but she soon turned to dance full time. "I got the rare opportunity to be a part of a troupe headed to Theatre de la Ville, Paris. The troupe included Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Shivkumar Sharma, Aloka Panikar and Birju Maharaj. This changed my life. Watching Panikar perform kindled an interest in Odissi," says Valli, who trained with Odissi exponent, Kelucharan Mohapatra for ten years.
Widely acclaimed for weaving poetry with dance, Valli is an epitome of dynamic and ever-evolving abhinaya (theatre in dance). She attributes this aspect to her music training with vocalist T Mukta. The love for literature and an adoration for music reflects in her slender and graceful moves.
"Dance is a visual and poetic experience. Reading a poem is an art that demands one to understand the layers of poetry. Similarly, dance needs to have layers to it too. Unfortunately, it is becoming a linear narrative these days. It has to be a combination of movements creating visual poetry and music. I have always said that if you can see music, you should be able to hear dance," shares the literature-graduate.
At the age of 60, Valli has a long to-do list, which includes sitting peacefully reading a book on a rocking chair in the nook of her house with a cup of tea and finish her Vedanta classes.
Valli quotes Shakespeare — This above all: to thine own self be true. And it must follow, as the night the day. Thou canst not then be false to any man. In other words, She'd like to be admired as 'a dancer who danced with truth and remained true to herself.'
