Meet Thomas Vo Van Tao, a rare male Mohiniyattam exponent from France

Thomas Vo Van Tao performing with other dancers at the 2023 edition of ‘Sougandhika Lasyalahari’, organised by Sougandhika Centre for Mohiniyattam, featuring the disciples of Neena Prasad
| Photo Credit: Haree Fotografie

Thomas Vo Van Tao, known for his expressive abhinaya is a rare male Mohiniyattam exponent from France. After learning Bharatanatyam for 10 years, he veered to Mohiniyattam where he found his calling. His aesthetics was further shaped under the tutelage of Neena Prasad. Thomas performs extensively and teaches Mohiniyattam in Paris. Excerpts from a conversation.

Question: What drew you to Indian classical dance?  

Answer: I was around eight when I happened to watch a documentary on South India on TV at the end of which there was a short excerpt of a couple dancing together and it left me fascinated. It was a few years later and by chance that I met my first teacher who taught me Bharatanatyam for more than 10 years. Mohiniyattam came much later in my life when I travelled to Kerala and decided to give it a try. The first class was a sort of revelation. 

Mohiniyattam is labelled as the dance of the enchantress and was also exclusively performed by women. Why did you veer towards this dance style and do you ever feel constrained by your gender?  

I stopped Bharatanatyam and veered towards Mohiniyattam for the feeling of plenitude I experience every time I dance it. The slow or medium pace of Mohiniyattam and the nature of its movements’ vocabulary made me feel that I was finally dancing. As a Bharatanatyam student and dancer, I was expected to dance a certain way and I was only taught certain type of compositions that would supposedly highlight my masculinity. Without really knowing it, I was in the quest for a dance that responded more to what I am and that would allow space for what we label as femininity. I wouldn’t say that my gender was ever a constraint, on the contrary Mohiniyattam gave me ample space to explore and fully embrace my gender in its complexity. Now is my gender perceived by a few as a constraint, yes certainly. 

What about language? Is that ever an obstacle? Can you emote without comprehending the lyrics?  

When it comes to dance compositions, I don’t think language is more of an obstacle for me than it is for any other Indian dancer from India. But your question is interesting as I don’t think anybody would ask a Bengali or a Gujarati Bharatanatyam dancer whether the languages of their compositions, mostly in Telugu and Tamil, is an obstacle for them to emote. We all fall back on translations or have friends help us translate and understand certain lyrics. Moreover, a native Tamil speaker might not be able to fully understand a Sangam era text or a Malayali a heavily Sanskritised Manipravalam text. Also, one of the misconceptions about Mohiniyattam is that its entire repertoire is in Malayalam/Manipravalam, this is due to the fact that, unlike Bharatanatyam, Mohiniyattam is perceived as a regional dance form. This is true to a certain extent but Mohiniyattam’s repertoire has always included compositions in various languages. For example, the first Varnam taught in Kalamandalam was in Telugu and not Malayalam.  

Thomas teaching students in Paris.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Now to answer your question more practically, yes it does make a difference to know the language of the composition as it brings more spontaneity in abhinaya. The only area where I definitely feel I am missing out is when it comes to the everyday communication in Kerala. 

You also have training in research. Did research come to inform your practice in some ways? Do you primarily dance what you have been taught by your gurus or are there new interventions too based on what you have read and know about the history of Mohiniyattam?  

Yes, I wrote my Masters’ thesis on the contemporary history of Bharatanatyam. This research did impact my practice and I think has been to some extent crucial in my decision to stop practicing this art form. I was conflicted between what I was reading about the history of Bharatanatyam and what was taught to me in dance class. The bhakti-loaded repertoire that was taught to me and its supposed antiquity and sacredness did not match with what I was reading about the traditional repertoire of Bharatanatyam.  

I have not done formal research on Mohiniyattam but I do read everything I can about it. Unfortunately, only few academic works have been dedicated to this art form and especially to its history as all the pre-Kalamandalam era practitioners and witnesses of their art are no longer alive.  

You live and work in France. You have performed in Europe. Is that a challenge for a performing artiste because where you learnt this dance and where it is anchored in some ways is so vastly different from where you live, practice, and teach. How does an artiste then reconcile this difference?  

Thomas feels Mohiniyattam is contemporary and probably even ahead of its time
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

There is a long tradition if I may call it so, of non-Indian practitioners of Indian dance in France. Simkie, the first French lady who learnt Indian dances did so as early as the 1930’s in the midst of the Revival Period when a whole new narrative was made around Indian dance traditions. So Indian dances are not completely alien to many here but it is sometimes what paradoxically makes it even more difficult for me to set a context for my practice. Reconciling both my experience in India as a student and as a dancer and people’s perception of Indian dances can indeed be at times challenging. The audience often comes to see or experience what they consider exotic or ancient with a lot of preconceived notions based on what they have read on the so-called revival. Making sure that the context in which the art form my students learn or the audience see on stage, evolve, and thrive, is not something that one can do in the span of a class or in a five-minute conversation with the audience after a performance. It is an ongoing work which comprises spreading awareness about the art form through performances but also paradoxically making people understand that things are not so vastly different and exotic. 

Is Mohiniyattam contemporary? Do you feel the need to make it contemporary to your time and context? 

Mohiniyattam or Indian dance for that matter, is not bound by time and space. it is an art that is made and practiced by people of today and no matter how ancient it is or not, Mohiniyattam is still moving forward and keeps on creating and recreating itself through different bodies. So, yes Mohiniyattam is contemporary and I would even say that it’s probably ahead of its time. It asks us to slow down and observe.  

(Kunal Ray writes on art & culture. He teaches at FLAME University, Pune)