Alarmel Valli - Bio Data - 2002
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ALARMEL VALLI - BIO DATA
One of India's leading Bharatanatyam dancers, Alarmel Valli is acclaimed as a creative artist who brings to her dance, depth, intensity and naturalness and who has enriched and extended the frontiers of her dance tradition. Trained in the Pandanallur tradition by renowned gurus, the late Shri Chokkalingam Pillai and his son Shri Subbaraya Pillai, she has worked on extending and developing Sri. Chokkalingam Pillai's vision of a style that would be seamless and fluid, while yet retaining the precision, power and purity of line, typical of the Pandanallur style. In the process she has evolved her own distinct style, that has been described as - "an effortless synchronisation of apparent contradictions - linearity and lyricism, symmetry and sinuosity, precision and poetry". Groomed in choreography by Guru Sr.Subbaraya Pillai from the age of 16, her work, drawing on her experience of world literature, poetry and the arts, remains within the framework of classical Bharatanatyam and is also always contemporary - in its interpretation and in its scope to communicate internationally.Valli has studied Padams & Javalis for many years under the eminentmusician Smt.T.Muktha, of the renowned Veena Dhanammal School of music. This has helped her explore the ideal of dance, as visual music - to express the subtle distinction, between the literal translation of the lyric into body language and the mature, evolved transmutation of music into movement.
A.K. Ramanujan says of the classical Tamil anthologies of Sangam poetry, authored around 2000 years ago, that "...not to know them, is not to knowa unique and major poetic achievement of Indian civilisation." Her researchon these poems which are remarkable for their sophistication, their antiquity and contemporaneity, has resulted in a significant body of work over a period of 12 years. Through the language of dance, exploring the many complex layers of meaning in these poems, she has worked to give them a visual and melodic dimension - to create a seamless fusion of the poetryof words, music and movement. Recipient of numerous awards, Alarmel Valli was conferred the State awardof Kalaimamani in 1979 and was made the State Artist of Tamilnadu between1981 & 1984. In December 1985 she was awarded the title of Nrithya Choodamani, by the Krishna Gana Sabha in Madras. In January 1991, she was the youngest dancer to be conferred the President's award of "Padmasri". In 1997, shewas honoured by the City of Paris, with the 'Grande Medaille de la Ville de Paris'. She founded 'Dipashikha' a Centre for Performing Arts in 1984 and has choreographed works for her students that have been presented in Japan and the US.
Through lecture demonstrations, master classes, workshops and seminars, Valli has contributed to creating an international awareness of Bharatanatyam as a classical, yet dynamic, contemporary dance tradition. Some of the forums in which she has worked, include the Societe Italianadel Flauto Dolce and the Philarmonic society in Rome, the International Sommertanzwochen in Vienna and 'Natyakala' - a Minneapolis society forthe promotion of South East Asian dances, the University of Minnesota and the Institute of Modern Arts in Minneapolis. Valli's has performed at almost all of India's prestigious cultural venues and festivals. She has received standing ovations in landmark opera houses, theatres and festivals around the world - in North and South America, Europe, the former USSR, the Middle East, South East Asia, Australia, and Japan, and in neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.
A few of the highlights of her career on the international scene would include her performances at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow (1977), at the Theatre De La Ville Festivals in Paris in 1973, 1997 and 1998, the Vienna International Dance Festival (1982), the New York International Festival of Arts ( 1991), the Avignon Theatre Festival in France (1995), the Cervantino Festival in Mexico(1990), the Harbourfront Festival in Toronto (1992), the Min-On AssociationFestival in Japan (1992), the Basel Dance Festival ( 1994), the Madrid Festival (1996), the Festival of India's South in London (1996), the Helsinki Biennale (1997), the millennium festivals in Berlin and Bologne (2000),the Brussels Spring Festival ( 2001) and the Asia in Helsinki Festival in Finland (2001).
Valli has also had the distinction of performing at the Hague Palace forthe birthday celebrations of Queen Beatrix of the Nederlands (1990), for the King and Queen of Norway at the Bergen International Festival in Norway (1997), at The Silver Jubilee Celebrations of Pina Bausch's WuppertalDance Theatre (1998) for Prince Charles at the Royal Albert Hall, during the joint celebrations of the 50th year of Independence of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka (1997) and at the Frankfurt Alte Oper (Opera House) in 2001.
Some of the International festivals at which Valli has presented specially commissioned works of dance, include the Solo Donna Festival of the Venice Biennale in Italy (1999), the San Antonio International Festival in the United States and the Niigata Asian Cultural Festival in Japan (2000). She has also been part of Government sponsored cultural delegations to the former USSR, the Indian festivals in the UK and Sweden, to Israel and the Middle East, Nepal and Bangladesh.
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