Alarmel Valli

Devi Krishnan
A MYSINDIA PROFILE

“……..Alarmel is nothing short of a phenomenon in the world of dance.….Her dance stands out with all the purity and ineffable artistry of the Pandanallur tradition……Witnessing her recital, one can, even without knowing much of the art, recognize in her the presence of a marvellous artiste, who is still at the beginning of her career…This writer makes bold to say, that in time to come, Alarmelu will equal in her abhinaya the great Balasaraswathi herself……... “

A Great Artiste In The Anvil

K M Rangaswamy
Free India

“Kumari Alarmel Valli’s brilliant dance programme at the Mylapore Fine Arts Club last week confirmed once again that she is a great artiste in the anvil. The effortless ease with which she executes the difficult Adavus of the Pandanallur style and her natural expression of even the subtlest emotions through her face and eyes, coupled with hand gestures and body movements, mark her out as a complete artiste.

The extraordinary feature about Valli is that she is evolving a distinctive style of her own even at this young age. While her limbs move with an amazing rhythmic perfection, she also rounds off their sharp edges with her natural grace, resulting in a continuous flow of beauty. …..Normally artistes show preference either to Nritta or Nritya, but equal proficiency in both is a rare combination. It is found in Valli’s art…..Valli looked likes a statue in the different poses she struck and even her body seems to be proportioned according to the laws of South Indian iconography. She is really blooming into greatness……..”

A Sprouting Genius

K M Rangaswamy
Free India

“THE number of ‘Arangetrams’ that take place every year shows that numerous dancers are being MADE, while artists with inborn genius are very few. To the latter category belongs young danseuse Kumari Alarmel Valli, who has already carved a niche for herself in the field of art and whose name has become one with reckon with. Watching just a few movements of hers is enough to discover the true artist that she is….. Valli danced the same “adavus” and showed the same “mudras” as others do; but still they are not just the same, for, Valli adds some magnetic charm to them. It is this live force that lifts her dance from the level of gymnastics to that of a sublime spiritual experience. This quality cannot be acquired from external sources but it should be there in the blood…..

….The real beauty of Valli’s art lies in the way in which she combines rhythm and grace. The general tendency of lesser artists is to exhibit their sense of rhythm by making their movements jerky, thereby cutting the otherwise beautiful lines into pieces. But Valli has that supreme time sense which makes her movements perfectly rhythmic and continuous at the same time. ….Valli is indeed a born artist – a sprouting genius.”

Excellent Natya at Festival

N M Narayanan
THE HINDU

“…..By her appearance and her art, Alarmel Valli brought the magic of the past to speak like a living presence at her Bharathanatya recital. This widely travelled danseuse, who has been nurtured on the Pandanallur classical style of natya, displayed an innate gift of perception of its beauty and presented it with such an astounding artistic expressiveness, that her dance seem to flower and flow from her….”

When dance flowers in rapture

N M Narayanan
THE HINDU

“……Valli has a very special gift for conveying the blissful joy of dance through the difficult medium of the highly stylized Bharathanatyam discipline. This joy pervaded the recital under review. One could see that Bharathanatyam has gone deep into her being and conferred on her a masterful and highly sensitized skill to be extremely graceful and expressive in every detail of her natya exposition.

Valli’s choreography blended the traditional facets of dance with modern virtuosic features very smoothly and resourcefully and all these, including the complex jathis were presented by her with the delicate artistic touch which signifies mastery. Valli’s dance just dazzled…...”

Thana Varnam as Lyrical Natya

NMN
THE HINDU

“As in music so in dance, it calls for extraordinary talent to maintain delicacy in exposition without loss of a single detail and it is precisely because she achieves it, that Alarmel Valli’s natya has fragrance. Her performance…displayed her grip on her art, concealed in the sweet allure of effortlessly graceful dance…..The movements and footwork formulations in the Varnam were all designed with great care to create sophisticated beauty and pretty and slender Valli translated them with a lyrical sense of loveliness shining through the entire number. It came through, exquisite both in the total picture and in the embellishments and provided a fine example of the art of presenting the tough and difficult in a gentle, elegant and sensitive style…..”

Radiant Natya and Exquisite Lasya

NMN
THE HINDU

“Classical fragrance in Bharatanatyam cannot be evoked unless it is linked to tradition with the artistic strength born of genuine involvement. It is this sense of identification which enables the dancer to evolve a style which is in tune with tradition and enables her to capture vividly the beauty of the culture of the past and exhibit it as a vital force in the present. By the excellence of her Bharatanatyam on Sadas day, at the Music Academy, Alarmel Valli established that style and tradition can be mutually enriching…….”

Grace and Sophistication

Prakriti Kashyap
The Times of India, Bombay

“……..Adhering to the Pandanallur style of dance, Alarmel Valli has innovated choreographic and complex patterns to bring a new subtlety, sophistication and grace to Bharatanatyam. Every one of her movement is so perfect that they flowed as naturally and gently as a river. …..”

Shika Bose
Amrita Bazaar Patrika

“…….It seemed Valli’s energetic impulses were taking one to a world of endless beauty and creation. Alarmel’s dancing is not restricted to her physical person. A light breeze of joy suffuses her audiences as well. With her items, Bharathanatyam unfolded in its splendid form. Alarmel’s recital was a revelation. …..”

Enchanting Recital by Alarmel Valli

The Statesman, New Delhi

“Pandanallur is the cradle of Bharathanatyam as practiced today. It was there that Meenkshi Sundaram Pillai, the grand old man of this style was born. It has produced some of the leading exponents of this art form…..…But unfortunately, it went into decay during the 60’s….It was at this stage that a young girl from Madras, Alarmel Valli, took a fancy to this and was fortunate enough to come under Pandanallur Chokkalingam Pillai. Her arangetram was when she was hardly 10 and since then she has risen to national and international fame. Without exaggeration, it can be said that the style would have breathed its last but for her. She has not tampered with the fundamentals and introduced innovations, and yet it has stood the test of time, proving thereby that truth will always survive……”

Bharatha Natyam in a blend of old and new

Subbudu
The Statesman, New Delhi

“…….Of the few artistes who have kept the Pandanallur style intact, Valli is one. Keeping the format sound, she has developed it and made a perfect blend of the old and the new.”

Dancing Like a Gazelle

Indian Express, Madras

“……. Each of the jathis she composes….are not cliché-ridden. They have an organic growth and in addition to fractional intricacies, have also fine summations. When Valli landed on the ‘on-your-mark’ precisely, the audience was enthralled. As to abhinaya,…..this critic is at a loss for words. Anger, anguish, resentment, hate, humour (the list is inexhaustible) are all conveyed through facial expressions, subtly suggestive and above all, poetic.”

Subbudu
The Statesman, N Delhi

“Alarmel Valli has become a legend. She is Bharathanatyam personified. In a manner, she breathes, thinks and walks the dance. One can only marvel at her grace and vivacity, at her prodigious skill in choreography – matching the most graceful adavus to the most intricate of rhythms, and the prowess of her Abhinaya. She has developed and perfected the conservative Pandanallur tradition to such an extent that it can justifiably be called ‘Valli natyam’. Valli! The dance world is awaiting your formal inauguration of the Valli style.”

It was Valli Natyam Indeed

N K MUDGAL
Evening News

“Was it some optical illusion or was there more than one Alarmel Valli performing on the stage?”…. The programme organized by the Delhi Tamil Sangam saw this intrepid soul of Bharathanatyam dance with an extra dynamism, which left her audience marveling at her brilliance and virtuosity, with sculpted postures…skilled footwork, both powerful and graceful….vivid and convincing abhinaya. The Thillana was a coup in terms of laya and tala and movements, which earned this dancer’s style the epithet ‘Valli Natyam’.”

Inheritor of the Pandanallur genius

Times of India

“….. Alarmel Valli. The foremost exponent of the Pandanallur style of Bharatanatyam, she has inherited the genius of Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai, the grand old man of Bharathanatyam, who immortalized the sleepy village of Pandanallur. From his son-in-law Chokkalingam pillai and grandson, Subbaraya, Valli has mastered the Pandanallur principles and executes them with a distinctive signature that softens the lines.

Valli dances with a natural ease that transcends the tedium of technique. And since her entire being is involved in each item, nothing of the contrived intrudes. For the rasika, this experience holds a degree of infective freshness…..Besides the chiselled adavus, and the joyous jathis, the charm of Valli’s dancing stems from her understanding of music which allows her to give the items a fuller treatment. Her body lives up to her name, and like a creeper moulds itself to the music’s nuances, cadences, and crescendos……”

Amazing Grace

Illustrated weekly of India (Letters to the editor)

“Dancer Alarmel Valli deserves all the accolades lavished on her ( Editor’s Choice, March 4)….. Today, she uses this (Pandanallur) style only as a basic foundation, though she started out with it. Today, her talent, intellect and application take her beyond the confines of any specific school. In time, if she begets students, worthy of her incandescence, it will come to be known as the Valli School.”

A Show of grace and skill

The Independant, Bombay

“……..Alarmel Valli seemed imbued with the spirit of the Cosmic dancer, as she unfolded a repertoire dedicated appropriately to Shiva, at the Elephanta festival last week. If the brilliance and breathtaking verve of her nritta enthralled the audience, the nayika’s ardent adoration of the unattainable Shiva in the Varnam projected the spirit and ideal of our classical dance heritage…. Alarmel Valli has evolved an individual technique that assures her a special place in the dance hierarchy……She dons the mantle of the Pandanallur school. On her rests the task of guiding the future generations of dancers and the refinement of tastes…..”

Conquering with Bharatanatyam

Arshya Sethi
Times of India

“…..The petite Alarmel Valli conquered the vast vistas of the Siri Fort as only she can…her Pandanallur training is only the inspiration: as the last experiment of Chokkalingam Pillai, Valli is now in a mould of her own. It is enough to say Valli dances Bharatanatyam. And what a wonderful job she does of it!....”

Dance with a new meaning

Economic Times, Bangalore

“…….What is it that sets her apart?....But then why does she score over others? Why does her dance give joy to the onlookers? Why does one walk back home from her performance with a spring in one’s feet?....Like a poet who knows grammar but also knows how and when to break the rules for innovations, inventions and creativity, Valli, well-versed in the technique and grammar of Bharata Natyam, succeeds in creating lyrical beauty.

Valli’s dancing acquired a certain softness without losing any of the vigour and strength. What in the process the dance acquired was a new look that has another dimension of this youthful exponent’s inner joy which permeated her frame and all her dynamic images…… It is a sheer miracle, that Valli achieves this effect with her delicate frame, unleashing such energy… Valli danced her way into the hearts of those lucky to witness her..……”

Majesty, shimmering beauty in Alarmel Valli recital

Shanta Serbjeet Singh
Hindustan Times, Delhi

“………Her Bharata Natyam recital in the Pandanallur style, recreated for the space of a couple of hours an edifice of majesty, integrity and shimmering beauty, such as the very name of the style’s greats, like Vidwan Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai or her guru Chockalingam Pillai evokes.”

Valli: Rhythmic Symphony

Hima Devi
The Afternoon

“A few days ago the Tata Theatre was set aflame with the unique, radiant, brilliant talent of Alarmel Valli . True, she performed in the Bharata Natyam technique, but she made the old art live again, by reanimating it with the breadth of contemporary life.

Behind her perfect naturalness, we recognize the traditional foundations of a hoary classical technique. Her style and body is a rhythmic symphony. There is a melody in the perfect movements of her arms and harmony in the elasticity of her torso. In the space of a few seconds, she awakens and releases such a whirl of rhythms that one can only sit and marvel at the wealth of ..musical beauty which the artist’s body contains……. Her dances have in them that which speaks to the soul and requires no analysis. Their aesthetic value is immeasurable….”

A Classical Recital

Neeraj A R
Financial Express

“…………..Alarmel Valli is one of the rare danseuses whom age hardly seems to touch as time passes by on its winged chariot……... She looked quite a teen-ager in her petite and lithe manner, sweet of face and graceful in form.….and the dancer was, as usual, in superb ease and control of her movements and accurate foot-work in micro-precise co-ordination with the beats of the tala.…. One of the ways in which Valli is an object-lesson to aspiring dancers is the excellent mode in which she uses her attami. And here she was, integrating it naturally into the rest of her movements, with the command of her liquid eyes, with the flow of her arms, the eddies of her hands and with the flowering of her expressive fingers…..”

Poetry in Motion

The Afternoon, Bombay

“…..Her body was sylph like, but the slender fine limbs were as taut as springs of steel. The expressiveness with which she endows her art transforms her dancing into poetry. She becomes the inexplicable, the mystery and the eternal……. Alarmel Valli was music made visible…. She dances as one breathes and sorrows and loves. Never, even in the midst of her most difficult feats of technique, did one have any sense of conscious effort. Her dancing speaks to the heart, the language of the heart. Yet, she remains faithful, without any compromise, to the classic concert of dance. …….In her, all things meet in a state of harmony. There is, in fact, only one Bharatanatyam dancer who can intoxicate the senses and fire of imagination - and that dancer is Alarmel Valli.…. Her dance is the victory of genius over technique.”

SVK
The Hindu

“…………….A slender figure! Oh! To what heights she rose, as her feet beat out the steps, her hands grasped the mudras, her face reflected the emotions and her eyes conveyed the sringara and vipralamba (separation) in particular. The motivation of dancing was clean in focus, the movements precise in kala pramanam, and her abhinaya, unerring in taste. From the way she danced the majestic Husseni swarajathi, from the commanding heights of technical perfection, executed with ease and elegance, one could see, what the great natya art stands for. She built up a magnificent edifice of pure nritta, her rhythmic embellishments growing deeper and deeper in fluency and grace, as the Husseni strains filled the hall……”

Graceful Pandanallur Adavus

K S Mahadevan
Indian Express

”WATCHING Alarmel Valli dance was not merely to identify a masterly dancer of Bharathanatyam – it was also to come face to face with the excellence of the Pandanallur tradition as taught by Chokkalingam Pillai and Subbaraya Pillai. Its cardinal component is concealed mastery and combining fluidity in line in the adavus, with grace.

As T S Elliot stated, “the difference between a great dancer and a merely competent dancer is in the vital flame, that impersonal force that transpires between each of the dancer’s movements and expression”. The rasika had plenty, to enjoy these in Valli’s recital,……...”

Where dance and sculpture merge…

Nand Kumar Mudgal
Evening news

“…..In Valli’s performance, her tantalizing neck movements, the flicks of the arms…and imperceptibly curvaceous turns of the waist, interact with such precision and perfection, with the twists and turns of the rhythm that they dramatize both the abstract rhythm and the physical movements of dance, making a very strong visual impact on the viewer….Alarmel Valli’s expressional dance is as much powerful in its impact, as her technical virtuosity in the realm of movement and footwork….”

Imagination flows freely to join music and movement

Jyoti Nair Belliappa
Deccan Chronicle

“Dancing is a magical process of self-revelation. In her movement, a new vocabulary is born – a language of form that is not contrived but grows out of her as plants grow. Images of life and fulfillment captured in a moment, leave us floating in free association of thought, with fleeting emanations and hypnotic symbols. This unique combination of the infinite, the tangible and the fantastic gives her dance a unique appeal. ….a doyen of the Pandanallur tradition, Valli stands out as the most exquisite practitioner of her style – her musicality, her intuitive understanding, give her dance a new idiom. With a free flow of imagination and a close relationship between movement and music her repertoire expands into space, grows and gathers itself into energy and life…”

N Vaidyanathan
Sruti

"Abhinaya comes home in Bharatanatyam where it belongs. It belongs, though, to the few who are chosen, not to the many who feel they are called. We watch, in blissful enchantment, as Alarmel Valli dances padam-s and javali-s ……A Sangamam of melody and rhythm in movement. Abhinaya has truly found its home here as a stylized tradition sublimating emotion into art. Our cup runneth over as Valli
Flits hither and thither
On winged feet,
Urvashi drawing us
Into paradise."