The girl who used to sneak away from home as a child to dance and participate in recitals, does not remember when she grew up to become a confident performer. For Ameena Shanavas, dance is life and each performance is a validation of her goal to become a full-fledged danseuse.
After a recent Mohiniyattam recital at Natana Kairali, Irinjalakuda, in which she received rave reviews, the accomplished dancer, who has a Masters in Fine Arts (Bharatanatyam) from Bharathidasan University, says her journey as a dancer was not an easy one. In many ways, Ameena is an outlier, someone who has quietly been taking the path less travelled.
“Although my ummachi (mother) was extremely conservative and strict, she enrolled me in a Bharatanatyam dance class in our neighbourhood when I was four or five. We come from an orthodox family and so, invariably, there were people who did not approve of it,” recalls Ameena. She had to overcome many hurdles to reach where she is today. There were raised eyebrows and questions about a woman from an orthodox family performing on stage. She relied on her family’s support to continue her tryst with Indian classical dance.
“The Ameena at home and the performer on stage are two different people. Even the ambience at both the places could not be more different. I believe it is my father (late Congress leader and Member of Parliament MI Shanavas) who imbibed in me the ability to see myself and the world in a different way. He was a person who respected every place of worship. Perhaps that respect for all religions has seeped into me.”
She herself is amazed at how she has been able to convince her family that her passion for dance should not be confined by barriers of religion, gender and community. “There is no reason to mix it with any religion. Dance is an art. Initially, I was worried about how my family would react and would not share with them where I was performing. I am grateful to God that I am now able to perform with them watching me in the audience.”
In sync with Mohiniyattam
Explaining her fascination for Mohiniyattam, she says she enjoys performing both Bharatanatyam and Mohiniyattam but she feels the movements and abhinaya of the latter is more in sync with the dancer in her. “I may not be precise when I put it in words, but I feel my Guru’s training and abhinaya are what appeal to me as a person. It is there in my breath.”
Tracing her steps as a dancer, she remembers how her twinkle toes and unerring sense of rhythm caught her teachers’ attention. Selection for dance competitions during the school youth festivals was not difficult; persuading her family was. “There were tears. And my teachers had to come home to secure my mother’s permission so that I could participate in Thiruvathira, Oppana and Margamkali, all group recitals.”
However, her father did not see anything wrong in his daughter learning Bharatanatyam or any kind of dance for that matter.
Somewhere along the way, she fell in love with Indian classical dance and the stage. Meanwhile, she picked up some steps of Mohinyattam. But by the time she was in high school, she had to bid adieu to dance to keep her conservative family happy.
Marriage at 18 to Mohammed Hanish, then posted as sub-collector, Perinthalmanna, was a gamechanger. He persuaded her to complete her graduation. Motherhood and domestic responsibilities meant she could not spend time on her vocation.
Later, Hanish’s posting as Collector of Kochi meant long hours for him, which left Ameena with time on her hands. Her daughter was two by then. “I resumed my lessons. In 2002, I began learning from Shyamala aunty (Shyamala Surendran), founder of Kochi-based Dharani School of Performing Arts.”
Beginning with Bharatanatyam, she went on to learn Mohiniyattam as well till 2017. Ameena performed as part of Dharani ensemble and she toured Europe for programmes and performed at prestigious festivals such as the Konark Festival, Chidambaram Natyanjali Festival and so on in India.
However, health issues and the demise of her father forced her to take a break in 2017 from her work as a school teacher and from dance. Ameena put on her chilanka again in 2019, this time as a disciple of guru Nirmala Paniker. As an avid follower of dance, she had begun to watch the performances of disciples of the veteran guru.
Stepping it up
“I had gained an excellent foundation at Dharani. Nevertheless, I wanted to delve into the aesthetics and abhinaya of Mohiniyattam and I yearned to learn from Nirmala teacher,” she explains. Nirmala lived in Irinjalakuda, nearly 70 kilometres from Ernakulam where Ameena stays.
“On an impulse, I enrolled in the 15-day Natya Sadhana workshop run by Koodiyattam Guru Venu G, Nirmala teacher’s husband. The minute I walked into their performance and training centre at Natana Kairali, the ambience moved me. It was a different world. I felt at home there. That is where I met Nirmala teacher, whom I consider my lodestar.”
“Teacher’s compositions, choreography and abhinaya enchanted me. I watched her disciples practise and I desperately wanted to learn from her.” Upon her request to teach her, Nirmala agreed and began teaching her from scratch as “there were differences in her dance vocabulary”.
Ameena elaborates that though both Shyamala and Nirmala are students of guru Kalyanikutty Amma, the doyenne of Mohiniyattam, there were differences in their practice.
Travelling by train or bus, Ameena ensured she did not miss her dance classes. For about eight months before the lockdown caused by the pandemic, Ameena learned assiduously from Nirmala. She maintains she is still in awe of the aesthetics of Nirmala’s dance methodology and abhinaya, and the way she interprets the lyrics of Mohiniyattam. There were days when she would stay at Natana Kairali, absorbed in the lessons and practice sessions. During the lockdown, she moved on to online classes. Physical sessions began after the lockdown was lifted.
Within a short time, Ameena was doing the nattuvangam for recitals by other students and participating in videos of lecture-demonstrations conducted by her guru.
“Finally, a couple of months ago, I gathered the courage to ask Nirmala teacher if I could do a solo Mohiniyattam recital. She agreed that I was ready for that.”
Then came gruelling practice sessions that Ameena immersed herself in. The last couple of months before the recital, Ameena stayed at her guru’s place and came home only for the weekends.
While the solo performance came as a morale booster, the disciplined student she is, Ameena wants to learn more and practise more under her guru’s tutelage.
Meanwhile, she continues learning Bharatanatyam from Renjith and Vijna in Chennai.
Ameena holds online classes for a select group of students and was teaching at a school for some time.
“The late Santi Mohandas, music director Bijibal’s wife, was a dear friend of mine. After her demise, I continued holding the fort at her dance school till a surgery forced me to take a backseat for a year. Now, I plan to start offline classes for students who are interested in learning classical dance,” she says.
