‘If the audience don’t like my performance, I am crushed,’ says dancer-actor Shobana

In her spacious dance studio, Shobana is surrounded by exquisite art works — Kerala murals, intricate wooden carvings, a self-made contemporary work on Krishna and props for the stage. The beauty around her informs her artistry, her thinking. “I distinctly remember an Ardhanareeshwara sculpture in Chitra akka’s (Chitra Visweswaran) dance hall. I would keep looking at it — the mudras and the tilt of the body. I would like my students also to appreciate the finer things in life. I have seen them staring at the art works in between class.”

Shobana is essentially an intuitive artiste without boundaries. “Creating rasa is my objective,” she says as words tumble out at an express pace. “I am blind. I simply follow the music.”

While her training is in Bharatanatyam, under Chitra Visweswaran, and later under Padma Subrahmanyam, her vision extends far beyond, to other dance traditions and languages. She sees incorporating different flavours as a challenge — it requires the agility of mind and body to adapt to different postures and movement in quick transitions.

She feels Bharatanatyam is a simple art form that has the wherewithal to absorb outside influences. And is perhaps why this classical art form has changed the most over the last century as compared to the others. “Don’t ask what dance has done for you, ask what you have done for it?” she says emphatically. 

Shobana’s raison d’etre is to enjoy herself. She enjoys different kinds of music — from classical and A.R. Rahman to Flamenco.

She is a rebel, a good-looking, talented rebel, nevertheless a rebel who will not accept anything at face value. You tell her the heroine of the javali ‘Apaduruku’ is a mugda (young girl) she will argue. She says which young, innocent girl will use strong words such as ‘Ee paapi’ (which sinner…). She is also ready to debate on the dichotomy between shringara and bhakti; she is a thinker, nothing gets past her. 

Actor-dancer Shobana. | Photo Credit: Arun Payyadimeethal

For inspiration, Shobana draws on her experiences in films, and on stage, and from the philosophy of her teachers and her reading. Her Instagram posts during Covid were well-received. She provided snippets about padams, their age-appropriateness, the sakhi, danced to thavil and nagaswaram like the old times, introduced Kavadi Chindu, etc. “Thirty seconds was the time available on Instagram. Into that small camera that cannot afford even elbow movement, everything had to fit, like in cinema. Now I am asked to dance on stage for two and a half hours, it is tough to switch back,” she says with a laugh.

As a performing artiste, Shobana feels she shares her life with the audience. And is dramatic about it, “If they don’t like it, I am crushed.”

Collaborating with Abhishek Raghuram

Shobana and Abhishek Raghuram are quite tight-lipped about ‘Celebrating the Supreme’, a special performance to mark the golden jubilee of Shriram Finance. All Shobana will say is, “This is a Krishna musical for the people who love Krishna and want to enjoy his birthday. The starting point is the idea of celebration, the idea of Krishna; it needs very good music.”

She is excited about working with a creative musician as Abhishek. “Getting a fine singer like Abhishek is a personal gain for me. I look forward to experimenting with him. So also Ananta R. Krishnan (percussion)”

Abhishek echoes similar thoughts. He has worked with Shobana before, and says that over time artistes get to know each other leading to more experimentation and coordination. “If you attend the performance, you will see that there is no curtailing of manodharma sangeetham for me. With Shobana’s depth of understanding of music and rhythm, there is much to learn from our interaction.”

She promises a Mallari and a Swati Tirunal piece. There will be a mixture of traditional and folk dances, as they capture the many moods of Krishna. Alumni of her dance school from different parts of India too will join in . We are sure there will be colour, there will be Krishna, there will be energy; but watch out for the little improvisations between the dancer and the expert musicians on stage. That will be the hidden treat!

Shobana and Abhishek are joined by Sruti Sagar (flute), Praveen D. Rao (keyboard) and Sri Vidya (nattuvangam). Shobana has the last word, “The celebration will be about how I inspire them all to create rasa with me.”