It's my 9,000 students who have won me this honour: Vimala Menon on her Padma award

The joy of Vimala Menon’s Padma Shri award win lingers at her home in Thiruvananthapuram as she sits down with us for a chat. The veteran dancer, who is the founder of Kerala Natya Academy and has brought about many changes to traditional Mohiniyattam and helped popularise it, says, “I did not win this award by dancing myself. It’s my students who won me this award — over 9,000 of them.”Excerpts from an interview:‘I don’t feel the award came late; winning it itself is a blessing’“I have been in the dance field for 65 years. Each award I have received so far holds a special place. The Padma award is known globally. A lot of people said this award has come late. I feel it’s a blessing that I won it at least now. It is a recognition for my contributions to Mohiniyattam. This recognition is not just for me, but also for my students and my pakkamelam team.”‘A journey inspired by Vallathol’s words’“No one liked that I was learning dance, especially my grandmother. My home is in Irinjalakkuda. During the inauguration of Christ College, Irinjalakkuda, Vallathol Narayana Menon (founder of Kerala Kalamandalam) was among the guests. I performed there as a child, thanks to my guru Vijayabhanu. I played Krishna, performing Kaliyamardana. Vallathol told me that day, ‘Students like you should join Kalamandalam.’ Back then, I didn’t know the greatness of Vallathol or Kalamandalam, but it felt like heaven.” 'I felt the need to highlight Mohiniyattam'I initially joined Jawahar Bala Bhavan as a Bharatanatyam instructor. But I felt the need to highlight Mohiniyattam. My biggest inspiration has been my audience, my students and their parents, and the pakkamelam team, which is "the support system for dancers. There are people to uplift Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi, but for Mohiniyattam, that was not the case back then. That's why even though I am well-versed in other dance forms, it is for Mohiniyattam, Kerala’s own dance form, that I have given more importance."‘I followed the idea behind football to compose group items’“Mohiniyattam was originally a solo form, not a group presentation. But to have all my students perform on stage together, I had to compose group items. I followed the idea behind football — chasing a ball. That’s when we realised we needed more than just the mridangam, and thus brought in the edakka, which was earlier used only in temple arts, and later added the maddalam."'Many criticised my innovations, but later adopted them'"Be it in costumes, ornaments, or keertanams, I was able to implement new things. I developed the courage to adopt more Swathi Thirunal kritis and Irayimman Thampi kritis for dance. Even in percussion, apart from the traditionally used elathalam and mridangam, I started using edakka and maddalam. When I performed in Malaysia, we used thimila, udukk and tabla, as there were concerns about using them here. If done neatly, there is no issue in using more percussion instruments. Though many criticised these changes initially, later many adopted them after seeing the progress we made."'Changes should be rooted in tradition'“Changes are necessary, but they should be rooted in the tradition and system of the dance form. Any change — be it in costume or ornaments — should be based on the art form’s theory. Using too many colours or excessive make-up reduces the beauty of the form, which is based on lasya.”‘Errors cannot be fixed if the guru is not at hand’"The current generation does not want to study an art form along with its basics. They want to learn just enough for competitions, often from videos online. Errors in adavus and mudras learned from such videos are repeated without realising they are incorrect. With a teacher, sufficient corrections can be made. Even teaching students online is not viable. How can a teacher correct a student’s posture or hand movements without being physically present?" ‘I have never taken separate classes for Vindhuja’“As a child, my daughter (actress and dancer Vindhuja Menon) would wake up hearing dance instructions. I never taught her separately. She danced along with the students and performed. Later, she showed more interest. When she reached Class 10, her school insisted she participate in competitions. She learned many items and became Kalathilakam at the Kalolsavam. She later started an academy in Malaysia. When I visited, I realised she teaches just like me — leaving no room for error. Now, her daughter is also pursuing dance."