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Anita Ratnam:
I am not an export artiste
December 3, 2008
Founded by Anita Ratnam in 1992, Arangham Trust is a cultural foundation that seeks to explore, enrich and promote the performing and visual arts of India and to contemporize the rich tapestry of Indian creativity for modern audiences. Through collaborations, workshops, seminars and cultural outreach activities, numerous talented but lesser-known artistes have found a voice and a platform. Arangham has begun pioneering work in reviving a tenth century performance art unique to temples in southern Tamilnadu. Traditional communities of dancers and musicians and their invaluable repertoire and literature of ritual performances like "Kaisiki Natakam" (now in its 10th year) are being sustained and revived so that their art can breathe again. www.narthaki.com is a path-breaking directory of Indian dance that has become an essential guide and networking tool for the international dance community. She practices calisthenics, yoga and Tai Chi for additional strength and flexibility. Anita has completed her dissertation and is awaiting her Phd degree in Women's Studies from Mother Teresa University. You have
done a piece on Ahalya, an item on almost the whole Ramayana compressed
into a 20 minute item and so on. What attracts you to the Ramayana story?
In 1995, director Na Muthuswamy, founder of Koothu-P-Pattarai, the Tamizh contemporary theatre repertory, suggested that I read the story of Ahalya as retold by modernist Pudumai Pittan. I had never read "Shaapa Vimochanam" and the idea of Ahalya choosing not to continue her redemption intrigued me. Almost simultaneously, feminist writer Vasanthi Sankaranarayanan had translated Malayalam writer KB Sreedevi's "Shilarupini" into English and it seemed serendipity to bring both ideas together. Sreedevi came to the same conclusion as Pudumai Pittan without even knowing that someone else 50 years earlier had rewritten the same episode from the Ramayana! I worked with theatre director Yamuna and a sound design without any words created by Mohan Narayanan. That was 12 years ago and much has happened in my personal and creative life since. But Ahalya has not moved from my inner recesses. What is it to live and endure like Stone? It was more the metaphor than the woman who intrigues me now. As much
as for an international audience, you say it is necessary to 'explain'
your classical dance items even for the local audience. Comment.
"Why are you dancing in Tamizh? We don't understand the language." WE DON’T UNDERSTAND. WE DON’T UNDERSTAND has become the increasing chatter as my dance travels quickly into the realm of meditative silence and implied moods and images. We have never demanded that Kathak dancers perform Tamizh or Telugu padams and I have never confronted so much confusion in people's minds as now. Even many critics are not keeping pace with the tempo of modernity except for a few. I have to explain my work as a preface at least and yet not overstate it. My mother was my touchstone in many of these instances. She would encourage me to come on stage and explain with the hand gestures from age 16. Even traditional padams, kritis and varnams needed to be explained in the seventies. Today with more distractions, attention spans are reduced and so is the imagination of our audiences. Overseas, the
ability to understand is deeper but the nuances of hasta-mudras is not.
A different style of introduction is necessary although theatre manners
and respect is far better overseas than in India.
Two very contemporary works of mine are 7 GRACES and FRAMING FIVE. One is on the Goddess Tara while the other has nothing to do with goddesses but explores my fascination with parallel mythology. Earlier in UTPALA, I had touched on the legends of Isis in Egypt and Kwan Yin of China. The enduring images in all my work are woman, goddess and water. You always
premier your new works in Chennai. Any particular reason?
Some of
the dance sequences in films are like the contemporary shows on stage and
quite interesting. Your comments.
As a past
convener of the Natya Kala Conference, can you tell us about the importance
of such conferences?
Normally dance conferences are very stimulating for the audiences and the participants. I have been a presenter at the Natya Kala Conference on many occasions but have inevitably felt disappointed with the level of questioning later. Still, there is much interaction and bonhomie off stage and the community sharing among colleagues happens only at such conferences. Dance writing seminars and dance videos and films should be included in the future for international visitors to enjoy and appreciate such conferences. Most artistes are still not very articulate and we need interlocutors who can interpret the artiste's presentation and bring out the focus of the paper or the demonstration. Many artistes still have to learn that the opportunity is not to perform but to share the process and the approach to a particular subject. Your comment
on the Chennai season.
It is impossible to mount anything special or imaginative in the cacophony of performances. Money is playing an increasing role in opportunities and good dance is difficult to watch unless you are doing the regular quasi-margam. I welcome the move that more and more sabhas, except Music Academy, allow recorded music. This cuts down the mess and the stress caused by dance accompanists. Black curtains as backdrops have become more the norm. My battle for 18 years has succeeded in many sabhas removing those ugly decorations and banners - or at least removing them for my performance. This year Krishna Gana Sabha has added more lighting on their grids. Since the season does not allow for a total free realisation of stage craft, I have decided to postpone the premiere of MA 3 KA to later next year. Kartik Fine Arts is providing all my lighting requirements for FACES. Both sabhas agreed to more time for rehearsals at night and a growing consciousness to visual aesthetics is apparent. However, it is us dancers who must insist on being given one hour between the afternoon concert and the evening slot to prepare the stage. 40 years ago, my mother would bring people from home to sweep and swab the stage before my performance. Last week, I had to continue the same tradition. Stages are filthy and not maintained at all. The less said about the green rooms and toilets the better. We do not have a single hall with acoustical fidelity. To call our city the cultural capital of India and have such poor theatres is a real joke! But it is in this contrast that such intensity can be seen and only those dancers who can navigate all such paradigms can succeed. My patience is slowly wearing thin. Contact:
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Anita
Ratnam has trained in Bharatanatyam under Guru Adyar K Lakshman (Chennai),
S Sarada and Sarada Hoffman (Kalakshetra). Rajee Narayan was her first
guru. She holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Dance from Kalakshetra. Her
training in Mohiniattam was under Trichur P Ramanathan (Chennai) and Chinna
Ammu Ammal (Kerala). She presented a complete Mohiniattam performance in
1976. Kathakali was an additional area of interest that Anita Ratnam trained
in under the guidance of Kalamandalam Balasubramaniam Warrier (Kerala).
She performed a full length Kathakali concert in Chennai in 1978. But Bharatanatyam
is the mainstay of her work. Always open to new approaches, Anita Ratnam
has enjoyed working in cross-disciplinary theatre productions. Her many
interests have also taken her into the realm of television and cinema.
Beneath
all this veneer of intelligence and capacity to absorb many influences,
we are covered with a patina of ignorance. Spoon feeding is the increasing
order of the day. Holding a bow and arrow in two dance gestures does not
mean that anyone in today's urban audience understands what that means.
I recently performed FACES in New Delhi and FRAMING FIVE in Hyderabad.
Both pieces relied on subtle abstractions and nothing was stated. Many
in the audiences were lost. "Why did you not say it was about Rama and
Sita?” they demanded later.