21/01/2016
Legendary dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai left the physical plane this morning....Sharing the below note by CNB Director (Dance) Ramaa Bharadvaj.....Salutations to a great soul..._/\_
"You are a dancer from your last birth" said her guru Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai during an incident in her life. It happened when she was studying in Tanjavur. He taught her a new 'adavu' (dance-step), but her body and mind "refused' to accept it. She felt it was "ugly" and so asked him to change it. He did and then asked her why she did not like the step. "I don't know" she replied, "my body & mind just rejected it". He looked at her strangely and then explained "That 'adavu' was something I took from a film I saw. It is not really Bharata Natyam." And THEN he said those words at the beginning of this story.
How intuitively tuned she must she have been to her chosen dance vocabulary to "feel" the right movement for her body!
Mrinalini Amma embodied grace, intellect and wisdom in her dance and in life. I have been an admirer of her writings, poems and thoughts for at least 3 decades. Heartfelt condolences to Mallika, Revanta and the family - Ramaa
