October 1, 2013
"Only he who loves the world as his own body should be entrusted with the empire"
- Lao Tzu
September is gone and the festival season floats above us like clouds
emitting a heavy mist laden with colour and the promise of another
hedonistic season of buying, feasting and celebration. This is certainly
my favourite time of year – the streets of historic Mylapore are
choc-a-bloc with dolls and trinkets ready to brighten your mantel or the
specially created theatre setting for the annual Navaratri Kollu Doll
Festival. I walked the streets around the Kapali temple and
engaged in heated bargaining for images of my favourite Andal, Durga and
Krishna. Every year, the statues are less delicately made and more
expensive. The perennial best sellers are the Fabulous Four – Ram, Sita,
Lakshman and Hanuman. While I wear my oldest pair of chappals and my
faded salwars to navigate these dirty streets, my mind is simultaneously
wandering into the air conditioned comfort of the nearby sari stores
for my annual Diwali purchase. As if I, or many of the women out there,
actually NEED another sari!
I spent a good part of September at various clinics and medical centres
undergoing my annual alphabet soup of tests. By the time I completed
them all – including the new method of analysis through the saliva – it
was more than five full days of my time taken away from my life! No
wonder we dancers don't submit to these annual routines regularly. It
takes away from the demands of rehearsal, travel, home, family and other
responsibilities that are constantly tugging at our pallus. With
our bodies being our "voices" it is imperative that we take the time to
discover how our bodies are adjusting to ageing, performing, travelling
and to LIFE! More and more dancers I meet have issues with lower backs,
knees, shoulders combined with digestive and sleep issues. As boring and
unglamorous as it may sound, unless we THINK of ourselves as dancers
throughout our lives, we can never really focus on GETTING HEALTHY and
STAYING that way. In this connection I must commend Bijayini, Surupa,
Malavika, Valli, Rama and other dancers who maintain themselves so well
and are sterling examples of fitness. Just look at Malavika and Valli.
Both in their fifties, they are the Platinum standard for global
excellence in classical dance for more than 35 years. Everywhere I
travel in Europe, it is their names that are recalled. And male dancers
in particular cite Malavika as their only example of how an IDEAL DANCER
should move. While there are newer names beating at the door of
stardom, these two Bharatanatyam divas have held the flag high with
their undisputed commitment to their art. Bravo.
Valli and Malavika continue to create spaces through which they can
communicate. In Bombay, a new DVD by Malavika was released and will have
a national tour in the coming months. Titled THE UNSEEN SEQUENCE, it
speaks of the history of classical dance as well as some dance segments
filmed specifically for this version. Valli presented her second major
collaboration after VIGIL with Bombay based poet and writer Arundhathi
Subramaniam. TELL ME HOW CAN I REACH YOU was on the poetry of
Annamacharya, the 15th century saint composer of 'sankirtanas' addressed
to Tirupati Balaji. The lyrics are drenched in the sweet surrender of
pure love and adoration and for many decades, singers and dancers have
reached out to Annamaiyya (as he is popularly known) for sure fire crowd
pleasing tunes and emotions. Despite the awkward title, the house full
crowd seemed to enjoy the evening although less talk by Valli and more
dancing would have helped the pacing of poetry and movement. We now
await her biography being written by Arundhati.
Classical music, dance and fashion collaborations are the sign of the
times. Singer Bombay Jayashree joined hands with fashion guru
Sabyasachi Mukherjee for an opulent Chennai A-lister event. This month,
it is the turn of singer TM Krishna and dancer Priyadarsini Govind. Both
inspire cultish crowds that will fill halls, though I have yet to see a
musician and a dancer truly SHARE ideas and truly explore each other's
disciplines. The Leela Samson / Bombay Jayashree duet was
interesting in sections since both artistes shared a similar quiet
energy. With TMK and Govind it will be their joint flamboyance which
will be on display. Most star dancers of today are not musical and
cannot sing a note in tune which eventually shows up on stage. After
seeing some really cringe-worthy events with dancers attempting feebly
to keep up with percussionists and foreign choreographers, I am yet to
see a dancer given the dignity that is deserved for this art form. Also,
the increasing number of these high profile events is bringing more
attention to the individuals rather than the form. Audiences say they
are going to attend a TM Krishna concert or a Valli performance and not a
Carnatic music concert or a Bharatanatyam performance. I say "at least
they are going!"
In the cattle market that has come to represent the national mania for
Literary festivals, the Bangalore Literary Festival was refreshingly
different. Perhaps the venue being so distant from the city centre and
the outdoor venue could have deterred mindless P3Ps and welcomed the
truly interested. Over three unusually warm days, a galaxy of
writers and film stars descended upon this once quiet and elegant town
to discuss and debate the importance of the written and spoken word.
Huge crowds thronged to hear actor Farhan Akhtar and the team of the hit
Bollywood film BHAAG MILKHA BHAAG – where the screenplay and creative
licences were talked about. Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar swooped
in with his adoring retinue to state that he does not read books but
READS PEOPLE AND RIGHTS (WRITES) PERSONALITIES! In the midst of
Pau Bhaji, steaming coffee, chocolate topped waffles and lemonade,
dancer Maddhu Nataraj led a wonderful panel on "Archiving the
Performing Arts." The participating speakers were dancer Lakshmi
Vishwanathan whose books on classical dance and recent column on this
portal AS SEEN AND HEARD have attracted a growing readership. Vikram
Sampath shared how his own passion for music led him to record and
archive the "voices" of musicians and how important ACCESSIBILITY of his
efforts was for today's global rasika. Theatre and film were also
represented by Anjum Katyal and Nasreen Munni Kabir who echoed the
crucial call of the hour to document, record and notate not just the
final product of performance and concert or film and play but also the
green room, process, rehearsals, doubts and all the doodles,
squiggles and sketches that culminate towards the final moment. In a
society where the word MUSEUM elicits yawns even from the Government, it
was remarkable that none of the speakers chose to complain or whine
about the state of apathy in India towards archiving. Instead, the
lively and intelligent tone of the panel made for compelling listening.
I was able to watch the final run-throughs of Aditi
Mangaldas' ambitious production WITHIN. Years of preparation and
working with dramaturg Morag Deyes from Edinburgh, Aditi was able to
invite the design team from Akram Khan's company to launch her new work.
WITHIN contained two 40 minute segments. The first was KNOTTED and was
inspired by the horrific rape incident of Nirbhaya in New Delhi last
December and the continuing violence against women in India. This dark
and ominous work was offset by fantastic sets that resembled Miyake/Han
Feng pleats and crunchy fabric spliced with neon lighting. Aditi's two
solos were major departures from her normal scintillating Kathak
chakkars and twirls but her dancers do not have the necessary
internalisation yet to fully realise this concept. Watching alongside me
was Aditi's family who were quite shaken by the first segment and
visibly relaxed and smiled through the second traditional Kathak
section. How comfortable and safe the familiar is to us! How content we
feel when we see and experience the known!
The good news for Aditi is that all 3 days of the ticketed programme
were almost sold out with a large number of dancers and Delhi's elite
attending. I wait to watch WITHIN again after its 10 city international
tour for the next 6 months. Aditi flew immediately to the Kennedy Centre
for the UTSAV festival and will be in Brussels for the opening of
EUROPALIA early this month. Looking gaunt and tired, this 50 something
dynamo has a lot of dancing years ahead of her.
My less than euphoric responses to Aditi's magnum opus could be because I
had just returned from watching Alain Platel's new dance opera
C(H)OEURS in Brussels. Using the classical music of composers
Wagner and Verdi, this imaginative choreographer, director and set
designer set out to examine the polarity between the mob and the
individual. An 82 member choir from the Teatro Madrid sang, acted and
moved like a chilling mob. Can an individual exist in today's culture
was the overarching question of C(H)OEURS. Wagner was Hitler's favourite
composer and is banned in Israel even today. For one of the dancers who
hails from Tel Aviv, it was a cathartic experience to hear the music
that marched his ancestors to the gas chambers. The international cast
of dancers who represented the individual were from 10 countries – among
them Serge Aime, husband of Bharatanatyam dancer Kalpana Raghuraman.
They were so superb and searingly honest that it moved me to tears with
the choric voices rising in ominous unison and the dancers quivering,
trembling and attempting to disrobe while caught in the spotlight.
Perhaps the powerful images robbed me somewhat of a fresh way of
watching Aditi's performance of WITHIN. Was it Picasso who said, "We see
today with the eyes of yesterday!" While we value beauty and prettiness
in our arts, questions like violence, brutality and disease seem to
require much more than great sets, lighting design and wonderful
dancing. Taking nothing away from Aditi, it is perhaps I who has changed
by wanting more.
In Chennai, I had the opportunity to revisit a favourite production of
mine called NEELAM -drowning in bliss. Created in 2007, this ode to
South Indian Vaishnavite temple traditions was invited to be a part of a
month long celebration of Kuchupidi dancer Sailaja's festival called
Nritya Sangama. This year it was about CELEBRATING BHARATANATYAM and my
NEELAM was a most appropriate choice. Condensing a 75 minute work into
45 minutes is not difficult after one has performed the original work
several times. Layers emerge and the strong moments stand out. Frills
are discarded and the core remains. Restaging this version with stage
props and no costume changes with newly edited music was as enjoyable as
it was performing to a house full Mylapore audience. For the first time
in a long while, I felt totally calm and centred. I was not distracted
by a costume flub where a piece of tape stuck to the edge of my skirt
and fell off or by a crying baby (theatre manners, peoples!!). The
audience also was with me – silent, sharing my surrender and joy.
The very next day I received a call saying that I had been selected as
the FACE OF CHENNAI to receive a glamorous watch from Raymond Weill. How
wonderful was the moment! Thank you Madras for embracing me and giving
me the freedom and the space to be myself! I now have a smart silver
toned watch that goes everywhere I go!
I have to comment on organisers who spend so much money on publicity,
hoardings, posters on buses but who do not pay attention to lighting
requirements of dancers. Granted, not many dancers pay
attention to lights as an important visual component but that does not
mean that a major festival has no budget for extra lights? Also, why not
give something simple and from craft traditions as gifts? And the
reading out of those interminable bios! That has to stop immediately. It
is plain torturous.
At the festival, I noticed the large hoardings of a new website. While
we welcome all initiatives to the web world and dance deserves many
avenues of intelligent discussion, I was perturbed by this website that
has plagiarised most of its information from mainstream media (some with
credit, some aspects without). Perhaps this is also part of the upstart
culture that is infecting our young. Do your own homework and stop
stealing/copying!
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan auditorium is said to be under a major renovation
but my experience last month was hardly different from past years. The
fluorescent lights in the green room are still flickering, the mirrors
are dirty, some seats are broken and the wings and backstage still a
mess. We wait for the dynamic L Sabaretnam, the new chairman of the
Bhavan, to set many things right with this historic and sweet venue for
solo dance.
In contrast, New Delhi's Chinmaya auditorium is such a pleasant space,
simple, unpretentious and calm. So conducive to solo dancing or any
serious or internalised work. A few days ago, dancer Jyotsna Shourie
organised a three day classical festival which featured Mythili Prakash
on the final day (Boy, this kid really gets around! LA one day, DC the
next and now Dilli!) A surprise chief guest was NAMO. For those who
don't know him, he is none other than Narendra Modi - the BJP candidate
for India's Prime Minister. Taking the microphone, Modi stunned the
audience with his knowledge of classical arts, the various styles and
Bharatanatyam's place in the reinvention of modern dance history. Critic
Shanta Serbjeet Singh shared her amazement with his erudition and
eloquence. Coming at a time when politics and the national mood in India
are so anti government, it seems like a sliver of sunlight.
Chennai celebrated 100 years of Tamil cinema with our Chief Minister,
former film star J Jayalalitha as chief guest. Tamil cinema has played
such a pivotal role in shaping the early careers of gurus like Vazhuvoor
Ramaiah Pillai, Muthuswamy Pillai, Dandayudapani Pillai and others. It
was Ramaiah Pillai who was credited as the first CHOREOGRAPHER in Indian
cinema. I would like to send out a request for a readers list of the
top ten Tamil films on dance. TILLANA MOHANAMBAL will be on the top of
the list and so will VANJIKOTTAI VALIBAN. There are others in which
Kumari Kamala displayed her explosive talent on the screen. Send in your
favourites.
As Indian cities experience a building explosion like never before and
gated communities emerge all over with schools, hospitals, restaurants,
movie theatres and malls, the question should be: "Where are the
performing spaces for music and dance?" If more and more families
are choosing to live in these cloistered communities, then the arts
should also be available to them within touching distance and not merely
through TV or DVDs. Live streaming is already one way of dissemination
globally but it would be wonderful to actually be in the presence of
dancers, musicians and actors for the true experience of RASA without
reaching for a remote gadget.
There is an emerging phenomenon in cities. 30 something women are
gathering to learn classical dance - holding on to a childhood passion
that was never realised in time. After motherhood and having cracked the
never ending "mom-chauffeur" mantle, they are finding the time to learn
Bharatanatyam and Kathak and other classical forms. Dancer Indira
Kadambi writes with delight on Facebook about her experience of teaching
some of these enthusiastic women. There is a dancer within all of us.
Let her out.
Happy Navaratri, Dussera and the joyous Raas Garba whirls to you all around the world.
Dr Anita R Ratnam
Chennai / Mumbai / Bhubaneswar
Twitter: @aratnam
Facebook: Anita R Ratnam
Instagram: @anitaratnam
Blog: THE A LIST / anita-ratnam.blogspot.in
PS: We wait with bated breath for the BESSIE AWARD announcements from
New York city where Rajika Puri is one of the presenters and where two
of our own, Hari Krishnan and Shantala Shivalingappa have been nominated
for performances. Fingers crossed for Indian dance!
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