Anita Ratnam

Classical roots, contemporary expressions

- Sushila Ravindranath

Anita Ratnam, a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar for Contemporary Dance for 2016, started out as a classical dancer when she made her stage debut at age nine. She decided to stop giving performances when she was approaching twenty. After that, she did not dance for more than ten years. When she returned, she ended up creating a new idiom of dance and winning awards on the way.

Anita Ratnam belongs to the TVS family, a major business group from Chennai, a pioneer in many ways. The family was steeped in tradition when Anita was growing up. Her mother Leela Ratnam, who would have loved to learn to dance but could not because good girls didn’t those days, made sure her daughter did. Anita had her early training under Rajee Narayan who taught her Bharatanatyam, items in Kathak and Manipuri and the plate dance. Her grandfather T.S. Rajam (her father’s father) did not approve of her dancing in public. The patriarch was seriously annoyed. However her mother and guru supported her and she did not stop dancing. After her arangetram in June 1964, Anita’s guru moved to Mumbai. Her mother sent her to train under Adyar Lakshman. She was twelve then.

Anita did not just dance. She enjoyed sport just as much. She played tennis so well that if she had taken it seriously she could have gone places. She went hiking and swimming, and, as she puts it, her body was at play most of her waking hours. Her guru Lakshman wanted her to give up every physical activity other than Bharatanatyam. “He wanted me to be more feminine.” But even then dance was not enough for her. “There are so many things to love in life.” All forms of creative and performing arts fascinated her: she was fully involved in school and college activities, she performed in plays, theatre was going to become a lifelong passion.