Greatest preserver of the dance tradition Perumanoor Gopinathan Pillai ‘Guru Gopinath’. Guru Gopinath was well tempered by traditional discipline, but he expanded the framework of tradition. He was instrumental in introducing and popularising Kathakali, the illustrious dance drama of Kerala, lying in obscurity, to the outer world. He showed how Indian dancing could handle themes other than those from Hindu mythology. Indian classical dance is the language of humanity, the global language. He popularised it by choreographing dance and ballets having biblical social current and political themes. He was trained in both southern (Kaplingadan) and northern (Kalluvazhi) style of Kathakali. He was invited for higher studies when poet Vallathol Narayana Menon started Kerala Kalamandalam at Mulamkunnathukavu in Thrissur. He got rigorous training under giants of the fields like Pattikkamthodi Ravunni Menon, Guru Kunchu Kurup and Guru Kavalappara Narayanan Nair. He studied Rasa Abhinaya under Natyaacharya Padma Shri Mani Madhava Chakkiyar. Famous Kathakali artiste Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair and dancer Ananda Shivaram were then students in the first batch of Kalamandalam.
When Rabindranath Tagore saw young Gopinath’s performance in early thirties he wrote an appreciation on the dancer: “Mr Gopinath is a real artist and I am sure there are not many who could rightfully take their stand by his side either in India or abroad. He brought to my mind glimpses of the great past when dancing was one of the most treasured arts in India and not as today, a mere device of whetting up the jaded appetite of the idle rich. His presence in our midst was a great lesson and now that dancing is again coming into vogue amongst us, his style should give us a correct lead, for in want of it, we are yet groping in the dark.”
Kathakali style of dancing and training was a male monopoly. It was Guru Gopinath who experimented and proved that girls can perform Kathakali. He made “Kathakali” more accessible to teachers, students and audience. He brought innovative changes to make a new style of dancing from this ancient dance form known as ‘Oriental dance’, ‘Kathakali Natanam’ and later ‘Kerala Natanam’ (Keralanatanam), without sacrificing its essence and classicism.
Kerala Natanam can be called a stylised form of Kathakali. Guru Gopinath developed his own style that was appealing to the masses who were then devoid of art and dance, without compromising on the classical background. He never tried to reform Kathakali and to tamper with the originality and purity it possessed.
He was instrumental to bring Kathakali out from the courtyards of upper class Brahmins and rajas and dance chambers of temples to the masses. His performances created a dance wave in Kerala, which had repercussions all over India in thirties and forties. Ordinary people in India, who had no training knowledge in understanding classical dance started enjoying it and appreciating it, only after they had the opportunity of watching Gopinath perform.
Guru Gopinath showed the outer world the strength, potential and adaptability of classical Indian dance style to perform themes and stories other than the Indian mythological, devotional or historical ones. He choreographed dances using dances involving biblical and social themes in the forties and fifties. His ballets like ‘Sree Yeesunaadha Vijayam’, (story of Christ) ‘Divya Naadam’ (both biblical), ‘Sister Niveditha’, ‘Chandaala Bhikshuki’, ‘and Kerala Piravi’ (on the formation of Kerala State) are a few examples.
