Interviews, Articles, Reviews, Events, News
Voice of
the diaspora is very important: Hari Krishnan
November 27,
2006
Artistic director of Toronto-based inDANCE, Krishnan is also a World Dance Artist in Residence at the Department of Dance in Wesleyan University (Connecticut, USA). His experimental and vintage choreographies continue to be performed at international venues. For close to a decade, Krishnan has been involved with the documentation, translation and analysis of the last vestiges of hereditary systems of dance in South India. His research brings together several interpretive and theoretical approaches, as it integrates the disciplines of performance studies, anthropology, history, and gender studies. Krishnan is currently working with Canadian dance legend Margie Gillis, who is creating a solo for him that will premiere in 2007. Hari Krishnan and inDANCE present an evening of contemporary dance on Dec 3, 2006 for The Other Festival at Museum Theatre (Chennai), 7pm. Natya Stem Dance Kampni, Arangham Trust and Alliance Francaise present inDANCE on Dec 5, 2006 at Alliance Francaise (Bangalore), 7pm. Hari Krishnan talks to narthaki about his approach to traditional and contemporary dance styles. Trained
in classical Bharatanatyam, what motivated you to venture into contemporary
work? Are there any role models that inspired you to explore new forms?
Dancer Keshava
in Switzerland says people there want to learn Bollywood dancing and he's
even presenting Bollywood dance programs. Jhelum Paranjape's Odissi Bollywood
Ishtyle is very popular. How popular is Bollywood dance in Canada and US?
You perform
mostly outside India. What do you think is the status of Indian contemporary
dance and classical dance in the diaspora? What do you think of the contemporary
dance scene in India as compared to outside India - by diaspora dancers?
The new global pathways in which Bharatanatyam has been circulating over the past 10-15 years can be divided into three major movements: (1) Classical dancers who strive to re-create India / Chennai wherever they are in terms of presentation, art production and audience development; (2) Classical dancers who somehow feel motivated to create contemporary work because of what their peers are doing or feel contemporary work creations are the only way to stand out among the vast pool of competing classical dancers. The contemporary creations coming out of this group very often use classical dance as a safety net; (3) Contemporary artists who only create/perform modern work and reject classical dance, very often dismissing it as cosmetic, redundant or artificial. For me, dance artists should constantly take challenges and risks, always reinventing themselves and progressing in their own artist development. Creating contemporary work or classical work has its own set of problems and difficulties. Artists should allow themselves to grow organically and not be compelled to churn out work for the sake of creating something "that looks different" or lacks meaning. How easy
or difficult is to get funding to tour with your ensemble?
Contact
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Toronto-based
Hari Krishnan is a dancer, choreographer, teacher and dance scholar. He
works in a contemporary vein abstracting and drawing elements from a variety
of sources and sensibilities. Hari Krishnan's creative output is holistic,
combining the allied arts of Bharatanatyam dance, music, theatre and theory
with contemporary, urban, post-modern culture. Trained by hereditary dance
masters including K P Kittappa Pillai and R Muttukkannammal, Krishnan received
his M.A. degree in Dance from York University.
On
one hand you are doing research on the devadasis. On the other, you
are into contemporary work and your latest is Bollywood Hopscotch. Are
you also inspired by the energy of Bollywood style of dancing?