Quotes

"All dance has expression. If there is no expression, I prefer the circus. The performers do more dangerous, more difficult technical things than we do. But we are dancers. We have to express and we have to project."
- Luis Fuente

"Culture tourism, if evolved with care, can spread not mere awareness of the dances of our country, but also give visitors a glimpse of our living heritage. If small village temples can entertain bus-loads of tourists with the most esoteric dances in the island of Bali, why can't our destination spots be used regularly and more imaginatively to promote dance programmes? Incredible Indian dances all the way!"
- (Lakshmi Viswanathan in ‘Heritage at the crossroads,’ The Hindu, Dec 1, 2011)

"To reveal art and conceal the artist is art’s aim."
- Oscar Wilde

"I am glad that I have become a Bharatanatyam dancer. I think it is the most evolved and classical of all our dance forms. The sheer variety in Bharatanatyam is astounding. And there is so much to choose from – even for traditional pieces. I often feel that I just have to dip my hand in a pot and pick something from it to perform….. Sometimes I do feel we tend to experiment too much with tradition. I believe whatever we do in Bharatanatyam, it shouldn't be at the expense of the basics….In Delhi, you are exposed to all kinds of dance and art. And you also get a lot of exposure as a dancer. However, gaining respect from the dance circles in Chennai was not easy. They were, I believe, a bit skeptical. Here was a girl from Delhi, who was half-Malayali trying to do Bharatanatyam! But slowly, they began to appreciate me as a dancer."
- Rama Vaidyanathan (‘Alluring artistry’ by P K Ajith Kumar, The Hindu Friday Review, Oct 21, 2011)

"Winners never do different things, they do things differently."
- Shiv Khera

"In my days, dance in cinema was dignified. It was a blend of tradition and some modernity. They were complete dances. We had to dance in one take. If someone made a mistake it went all over again. Today there is so much technological help. Everything is cut and paste, even dance. That's why you see girls, who are not dancers, seemingly dancing so well. Dance seems to have lost its soul."
- Vyjayantimala Bali
(‘Dance and Vyjayantimala’ by K Pradeep, The Hindu Metroplus, Nov 2, 2011)

"Only the fallen have an opinion. The risen have transcended the need to have an opinion."
- Anonymous

"You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing and dance, and write poems, and suffer, and understand, for all that is life."
- J Krishnamurti

"I wish to bring to the dance, a vital energy that speaks in the present tense; this I owe as a practitioner of a great tradition that can rejuvenate itself by adapting to flux. Else, it will lose its vitality……
Many streams of aesthetics, poetry, philosophy and emotional impulse, flow together to create the item. Art experience is about encountering metaphors and making creative leaps. And critics and others who merely look for a literal ‘understanding’ of the piece, I think, lose out on the richness of the experience of rasa."
- Malavika Sarukkai
(‘Quest for deeper resonances’ in the Hindu, Jan 13, 2006)

"There are three kinds of dancers: first, those who consider dancing as a sort of gymnastic drill, made up of impersonal and graceful arabesques; second, those who, by concentrating their minds, lead the body into the rhythm of a desired emotion, expressing a remembered feeling or experience. And finally, there are those who convert the body into a luminous fluidity, surrendering it to the inspiration of the soul."
- Isadora Duncan

"Actually, there are two kinds of audiences for new plays. One set observes them without any pre-conceived notions about Kathakali and accept it as a way forward for the art form. Then there are those self-proclaimed ‘critics' who believe that it's their moral right to question why I've had the gall to change something – why Vavar, for example, doesn't follow a particular style of vesham. I don't believe in compromising the aesthetics of plays or characters to suit so-called traditionalists."
- Sadanam Harikumar
(‘Heralding change’ by Nita Sathyendran, The Hindu Friday Review, August 4, 2011)

"One is born to be a dancer. No teacher can work miracles, nor will years of training make a good dancer of an untalented pupil. One may be able to acquire a certain technical facility, but no one can ever ‘acquire an exceptional talent.’ I have never prided myself on having an unusually gifted pupil. A Pavlova is no one's pupil but God's."
- George Balanchine

"Like most classical arts in Kerala, it's the youth festivals that are keeping Mohiniyattam alive among the younger generation. Youth fetes are a good thing but they are just not enough for the future of performing arts. Now that they've taken out the Kalaparthibha-Kalathilakam titles and started awarding grades instead of first place, second place…in competitions, I find that it is actually a little demoralising for the young performers. After all, who doesn't want to win? They would have worked hard enough for it as it is. The government needs to be much more proactive. Much like they help sportspersons get placements, why can't the Government support those who choose performing arts as a career? Not only would such a move be an incentive for people to take up performing arts but it would also ensure that the arts sustain themselves."
- (Kalamandalam Vimala Menon in ‘My students are my wealth' by Nita Sathyendran, The Hindu Friday Review, June 24, 2011)

What is modern about modern dance is its resistance to the past, its response to the present, its constant redefining of the idea of dance.
- Marcia B. Siegel

"I see myself as upholding the best and highest of both the Hindu and the Christian religions. I have performed in temples and before Christian audiences in countries across the world and at every stage, themes from the Hindu tradition find place alongside Biblical themes. Well, if you ask me how the priest and the dancer in me reconcile with each other, I would say that priesthood is service and in our Indian tradition, dance is a spiritual activity where one surrenders oneself totally to God."
- Father Saju George
('A sadhana and a prayer' by Ambili Ramnath, The Hindu Friday Review, June 17, 2011)

"Dancing should look easy; like an optical illusion. It should seem effortless. When you do a difficult variation, the audience is aware that it is demanding and that you have the power and strength to do it. But in the end, when you take your bow, you should look as if you were saying, 'Oh, it was nothing. I could do it again.'"
- Bruce Marks

"Recently, I performed abhinaya in Delhi and the Kathak Kendra authorities were so mesmerised that they asked me to conduct a workshop for their students. What is a workshop? Are you producing some object in it? I don't believe in this quick method of teaching. You have to stick to a style. You cannot learn a bit of this and that and become a dancer. How can a guru teach someone for a week and begin calling that person a shishya?
Also, I feel abhinaya is dying out. There is no realism anymore. Pandit Hanuman Prasad was overweight in real life, but on stage he could make people believe he was a slim 16-year-old girl. That level of transformation has just disappeared from abhinaya."
(- Sunayana Hazarilal in 'The story of a gharana' by Ranjana Dave, The Hindu Friday Review, April 15, 2011)

"Man must speak, then sing, then dance. The speaking is the brain, the thinking man. The singing is the emotion. The dancing is the Dionysian ecstasy which carries away all."
- Isadora Duncan

"I did not have the good fortune to see real devadasis, but can imagine from the few surviving photographs that the techniques upheld today as a goal were not unknown among them. If sloppiness in one was hailed as a goal, while refinement in another was condemned, for whatever reason, perhaps we should examine the reasoning more closely, rather than the art itself. Whatever art form one undertakes, to have a command over the laws of grammar, of line, of pitch and harmony empowers one to make our art say what we mean it to say.
Kalakshetra never lacked for sringara. But there is a very thin line between art and pornography, between good and bad taste. There will always be those who want more graphic passion to be portrayed, while others are more moved by subtle expressions of desire. Certainly the dance world has changed since the beginnings of Kalakshetra, and the general views of society are ever changing."
- (Katherine Kunhiraman in ‘Eyes of change’ by Anjana Rajan, The Hindu Friday Review, March 18, 2011)

"Dance is the most perishable of the arts. Ballets are forgotten, ballerinas retire, choreographers die - and what remains of that glorious production which so excited us a decade ago, a year ago, or even last night?"
- Jack Anderson

"Since the male dancers perform in bare body, I warn them to keep their body in proper shape. I have observed that women are more suitable for Odissi's exclusive postures. But male dancers have stronger body and footwork that meets the demand of some exclusive characters and movements as well. However, it is easier to train a girl than a boy as in the case of the latter, the body takes longer time to be tun"
- Guru Bichitrananda Swain
('Danseur's perspective' by Shyamhari Chakra, The Hindu Friday Review, March 11, 2011)

"Dancing appears glamorous, easy, delightful. But the path to paradise of the achievement is not easier than any other. There is fatigue so great that the body cries, even in its sleep. There are times of complete frustration, there are daily small deaths."
- Martha Graham

"Some are reluctant reviewers who are sick and tired of reviewing stuff day in and day out. Considering the stuff they get to review, one does feel for them. (Even I try to get my books reviewed which thankfully, the sensible reviewers avoid.) There are health conscious reviewers who use reviews as a good therapy to get bile out of their system. There are express reviewers who review as fast as they can and in their haste, confuse one with another, and end up reviewing a completely different creation they have created. Then there are slow reviewers who never review anything. There are knowledgeable reviewers who end up writing about some great epic or movie they were reminded of and not what they were allegedly reviewing. There are elaborate reviewers who say nothing, and some who write small reviews that can kill. Some write all nice things and give bad ratings. Some write all bad things and give good ratings. Some say must watch and must read and shut off their phones before people start calling them.
All in all, I think I now understand and sympathise with the lot of the reviewers. Earlier only good books and good movies were made. Now everyone is writing and making movies, including me. Constant exposure to such toxic stuff would certainly affect anyone’s judgment. Our reviewers need rest from the stuff they are reviewing - only certified stuff should be given to them. It’s time we reviewed this whole reviewing business. But until then I suggest we have a review system to review the reviewers."
- Harimohan Paruvu
('It's time to review our reviewers' in The New Sunday Express' dated Jan 30, 2011)

"The dance is the mother of the arts. Music and poetry exist in time; painting and architecture in space. But the dance lives at once in time and space."
- Curt Sachs

"Most of the dancers are impatient to come on stage without attaining a proper level of perfection. Number of half-baked teachers and gurus are also in the rise. Odissi today is in unsafe hands. To make a dance teacher a guru, one must have adequate knowledge of literature and music apart from a mastery over dance. It is also important to learn from life and nature around us that teaches a lot."
- Odissi Guru Sudhakar Sahu
('The state of Odissi' by Shyamhari Chakra, The Hindu, Dec 31, 2010)

"Dance is a constant communication; not just performing. Every experience and communication has to be through the body; the intellect is only one part of the body."
- Sardono Waluyo Kusomo

"Nothing should be taken as good or acceptable merely because it is old. Nothing is bad merely because it is new. Great men accept the one or the other after examination and deliberation. Only a fool has his mind led by the beliefs of others. Those are not my words. That was a translation of Kalidasa's ‘Malavikagnimitra', Act I, verse 2!"
- (Heike Moser in ‘Bowled over by Koodiyattam’ by Suganthy Krishnamachari, The Hindu Friday Review, October 22, 2010)

"The trained dancer must not only have grace and elegance, but also the leap of an Olympic hurdler, the balance of a tight-rope walker and panther-like strength and agility."
- Camilla Jessel

"I think we are fast being sucked into the vortex of globalisation. I have always thought that music, art, sculpture and painting, are all spiritual endeavours. It is sad to see all this grossly commercialised. We see values like freedom, love, or something profound like meditation and even our classical arts, say Kathakali, used to sell products. There is trivialisation, which will send wrong signals to the children and youth of the country."
(Louba Schild in 'End of a journey' by K Pradeep, The Hindu Friday Review, Aug 28, 2009)

"All display of talents do not become an object of art; the talent that touches the hearts of onlookers and listeners only can be called an art, be it music, painting, sculpture or dance."
- VP Dhananjayan

"In those days, they used to master about 30 kritis and were very comfortable with them, and each time the concert was a success. Artistes now learn more songs to cater to different needs. For instance, for Ramanavami one needs several songs on Rama. We have to learn many more songs, which we have not mastered like the old people. That is why, the repertoire has increased, but the quality has not increased. In earlier times, every artiste was special in his own way, and had established his own mark, whereas now, we have no stamp of our own."
- (Neela Ramgopal in ‘A student forever’ by Madhavi Ramkumar, The Hindu Friday Review, May 21, 2010)

"A day I don't dance is a day I don't live."
- Tunisian dancer, quoted in Serpent of the Nile

"Fusion often trails into confusion! There should be no compromise, no gimmicks. For tradition bound artists, innovation is a constantly evolving process �" the chandas, layakari, abhinay. Inspired by nature, my guru creates a new tihai. It is every artist's desire to draw the audience into his creative space. However, a surfacing genre called contemporary Kathak actually distorts the form, going against tradition. We are unhappy with this self-styled form, as it does not reflect Kathak's quintessential elements. One can get experimental but shouldn't name it after a great tradition, especially when one deviates from its spirit."
- (Saswati Sen in ‘Awesome experiences’ by Lalithaa Krishnan, The Hindu Friday Review, July 23, 2010)

"Movement never lies. It is a barometer telling the state of the soul's weather to all who can read it"
- Martha Graham

"When I popularised Abhinayadarpanam, many in Orissa objected fiercely, saying this is not Bharatanatyam. But nowhere in the text does it say the Abhinayadarpanam is for Bharatanatyam. I realised it was necessary to form an association. Pankaj Charan Das, Debu Prasad Das and I, along with others, formed Jayantika. My friend D.N. Pattanaik also joined. The gurus would demonstrate movements and we would correlate them with what was written in the shastras. From the Natya Shastra and Abhinayadarpanam, we selected those elements that applied to the practice of Odissi dance. For example, Abhinayadarpanam mentions akasha bhramari (a pirouette done in the air). We don't have this movement in Odissi, so we did not include it in our list. The gurus had all been following the system without knowing the names. We needed some erudite people with us to convince them."
- Odissi guru Mayadhar Raut
('Theatre of memory' by Anjana Rajan, The Hindu Friday Review, Aug 6, 2010)

"There are three steps you have to complete to become a professional dancer: learn to dance, learn to perform, and learn how to cope with injuries"
- D Gere

"As an artist, innumerable times you don't feel up to it. But as you have made a commitment, you have to perform. And as a performance is in progress you feel that you are not meeting your standards, then you try to salvage the performance. You try to do better and hope the audience forgets the earlier mis-steps, you try to tap into inner recess of your self and save the performance. That is the real test of a good dancer."
- (Alekhya Punjala in 'The danseuse as a teacher' by Serish Nanisetti, The Hindu Metro Plus, July 3, 2010)

"Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are."
- Chinese proverb

"War, terrorism and aggression will continue. This has been the sad history of humankind. And we as human beings confronted with this condition need to bring about a change towards harmony both outwardly and inwardly. Art at the deeper level only reaffirms this spirit of harmony. It speaks of emotions and yet transcends them to open up spaces of expansiveness within each one of us. In this way, I do believe, the arts have the power to enrich one's life with positive energies."
- (Malavika Sarukkai, in 'Wings of rhythm' by Anjana Rajan, The Hindu Friday Review, May 28, 2010)

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul and paints his own nature into his pictures."
- Henry Ward Beech

I feel that choreography is not just a combination of steps. Like Béjart once said in an interview, "My choreography is not just for fun. Enjoy it, but each step means something." And I believe in that. But before that, I need to get out of my dance career, for you can't combine a dance career with choreographing. You have to be a choreographer 24 hours a day"
- 'A conversation with Kirill Melnikov' by March Haegeman, Dance View, Vol 16 #3, Summer 1999

"The world's great men have not commonly been great scholars, nor its great scholars great men."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Every second person is bringing out a DVD! But in the last 10 years, everyone is studying quite a bit I must say. What they understand I don't know. Sometimes you find wrong quotations in wrong places! But I have no faith in critics ever since I overheard one describe a performance as something from a red light area and then read a glowing report in the paper. Those who know dance and write are few."
- NS Jayalakshmi
('Stuff of legends' by Anjana Rajan, The Hindu Friday Review, December 25, 2009)

"After years of hectic solo performances across the globe, I now wish to encourage many of my talented disciples. Hence, this Margazhi I am focussing totally on group performances. I think youngsters should be given an orientation on how one could introduce novelty in every aspect of the dance - make-up, costume, music - without deviating from aesthetics. Also, they need to be taught to respect heritage. It's nice to appreciate and be inspired by everything around you, but it is essential to maintain the identity and sanctity of your art."
- Padma Subrahmanyam
('Taking centre stage once again' by Chitra Swaminathan, The Hindu Dec 1, 2009)

"Every dance is a kind of fever chart, a graph of the heart."
- Martha Graham

"Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you."
- William Arthur Ward

"There is definitely a tradition in the training of Koodiyattam but the performance aspect has always changed with the times with new influences and new outlook. So there is no such thing as a permanent tradition. My aim is to give a contemporary almost human touch to traditional stories that are mostly full of divine characters. My innovations are not anything new per se, rather they are a re-working, a revitalisation of the old. The challenge then is to change the mindset. It is not easy considering everything is a spectacle these days. All that the viewers want is the edited cream and not the essence so to speak."
- (Margi Madhu in 'The kalari and the arangu are not the same' by Nita Sathyendran, The Hindu Friday Review, Sept 25, 2009)

"Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion."
- Martha Graham

"Teaching for 60 long years has given me a lot - the joy of give and take, the pleasure of mothering so many children, discovering new energy levels, caring and sharing and cherishing long-lasting bonds. I certainly have no regrets about not being a performer."
- KJ Sarasa
('Sarasa Teacher looks back' by Chitra Swaminathan, The Hindu Friday Review, Nov 6, 2009)

"We have no right to tamper with the rich legacy handed over to us by elders. Our objective should only be to foster it and hold it up for the future. Youngsters should take the right route by following what is sampradaya. You might ask whether you do not have the swathanthram to innovate. You do have the liberty I admit but don't take democracy into your hands as it is always dangerous for art. The Vedas for example have never undergone a change for over several thousand years. Not a single swara has been changed. Our music that has a strong link with the Vedas has to be fostered for posterity in the same fashion. Even now I practise regularly and also give lec-dems. I am still researching on how to keep the audience mesmerised by my music. I keep researching on composer's bhavam, structural beauty and bhava shuddham of many kritis. You may have practised a particular raga for several hours at home, but in the concert you will find your imagination drying up even by the fifth minute and that is a curse. You should have a command over music and to achieve that you should practise regularly."
- (RK Srikantan in 'We have no right to tamper with legacy' by V Balasubramanian, The Hindu Friday Review, Sept 11, 2009)

"It's not a teacher's onus to create platforms for students. It's the teacher's onus to create students for platforms."
- Swapnasundari

"Strangely students of the performing arts are neglected; actually they have as little access to performers, except their teachers, as anybody else.
At a very basic level, there is no difference between music and dance or the various disciplines within. They are all forms of cultural expression. We need to give the next generation more access, more exposure so that it adds to their growth; not just as performers but as people."
- (TM Krishna in 'For the youth only�' by R Krithika, The Hindu Sunday Magazine, Aug 23, 2009)

"Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition."
- Jacques Barzun

"Thoroughness is often an admirable ideal. But it is an ideal to be adopted with discrimination, having due reference to the nature of the work in hand. An artist, it seems to me now, has not always to finish his work in every detail; by not doing so he may succeed in making the spectator his co-worker, and put into his hands the tool to carry on the work which, as it lies before him, beneath its veil of yet partly unworked material, still stretches into infinity. Where there is most labour there is not always most life, and by doing less, provided only he has known how to do well, the artist may achieve more."
- 'The dance of life' by Havelock Ellis (1923)

"The diversity of the Many is balanced by the stability of the One. That is why life must always be a dance, for that is what a dance is: perpetual slightly varied movements which are yet always held true to the shape of the whole."
- 'The dance of life' by Havelock Ellis (1923)

In a dancer, there is a reverence for such forgotten things as the miracle of the small beautiful bones and their delicate strength. In a thinker, there is a reverence for the beauty of the alert and directed and lucid mind. In all of us who perform there is an awareness of the smile which is part of the equipment, or gift, of the acrobat. We have all walked the high wire of circumstance at times. We recognize the gravity pull of the earth as he does. The smile is there because he is practicing living at that instant of danger. He does not choose to fall.
At times I fear walking that tightrope. I fear the venture into the unknown. But that is part of the act of creating and the act of performing.
That is what a dancer does.
(Martha Graham in 'I am a Dancer')

"What happens when you dance totally? The dancer disappears in a total dance. That's my definition of the total dance: the dancer disappears, dissolves; only the dancing remains. When there is only dancing and no dancer, this is the ultimate of meditation - the taste of nectar, bliss, God, truth, ecstasy, freedom, freedom from the ego, freedom from the doer. And when there is no ego, no doer, and the dance is going on and there is no dancer, a great witnessing arises, a great awareness like a cloud of light surrounding you."
- Osho

"To popularise any art form, you must set it free from its religious symbols. In the case of Koodiyattam, the moment it comes out of koothambalams, it loses its religious symbolism. Koodiyattam is in a better position now than it was 25 years ago"
- Margi Madhu
('In search of new symbols' by Anil S, The New Sunday Express, Oct 5, 2008)

"No artist is ahead of his time. He is his time; it is just that others are behind the times."
- Martha Graham

"Sattriya dance needs understanding from its practitioners. That which is textual needs visualization, that which is practiced needs clarity, that which is unclear needs logical explanation. Therefore it is work, work and only selfless hard work that will make us realize our dreams."
- Prateesha Suresh
("Rejuvenating a legacy" Assam Tribune, Guwahati, Dec 10, 2004)

"The dancer's body is simply the luminous manifestation of the soul."
- Isadora Duncan

"I believe that every teacher-student relationship goes through a transition. There is no point in trying to force out submission from anyone. It automatically comes as the student's love for dance grows."
- Mira Kasuhik ('Succour and hope through dance' by Nandini Bhattacharyya, The Hindu, March 2, 2007)

"The true success of a teacher is measured by how well the student teaches in return."
- J A McNulty

"There is no hard and fast rule that a performing artist will cater to his own interests if given a permanent post. It depends on how sensitive a person is to fellow artists."
- L K Pandit in 'Holding art to ransom', The Pioneer, Delhi, June 9, 2005

"One has the liberty to make innovations on an art form but, mind you, when you clean the glass frame of a beautiful painting, beware of the dirt on your hands."
- Vallathol

"Most critics are by temperament either believers or skeptics. Believers aren't invariably more supportive than skeptics, and skeptics aren't always more 'critical' (meaning negative). It seems to me performance � and all art really � is about pretending. It's about doing one thing that conceals or reveals another thing. The fact that art isn't self-evident is what makes it different from real life. It seems to me criticism is the practice of discovering the nature of that paraphrase��
Dancers routinely hate critics in public and thank them in private. There's an overwhelming dancer pressure, overt, covert, unrelenting, for us to be their supporters, their promoters, for us to make their careers happen somehow. This is harder to resist in smaller communities, where we often have social and professional relations with dancers��"
- Marcia B Siegel in 'Critical Practice in the Age of Spin' � DCA (Dance Critics Association) News Winter 2005

"Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher."
- Japanese proverb

"If you want to dance from the heart and not just with two feet, art has to be a state of being. It has to constantly be there around you, reflect in your behaviour, speech, action and emotion. It also has to extend beyond your life and thinking, absorb and reflect the pain and joy of others...
I don't want people to turn away at the mention of classical arts. It's there for all to appreciate and enjoy. You create the distance and then crib about lack of audience and awareness. Being on stage does not mean you are on a pedestal. You cannot live in a vacuum. We need to reach out; spread warmth and cheer through art...
I love reading joke books and am known as a clown in my friends' circle. People who cannot laugh have not lived."
(Sonal Mansingh in 'Art as a state of being' by Chitra Swaminathan, The Hindu Friday Review (Delhi), March 28, 2008)

"Be it Tamil or Chinese, the poetry of Subramania Bharati or the bhajans of Mira Bai, bhava as experienced through Bharatanatyam is universal to all languages."
- Guru Kalyanasundaram Pillai ('Of 'talking' feet' by Vidya Saranyan, The Hindu Friday Review, Dec 26, 2008)

"For them (NRIs), dance is a moment of being Indian...everyone organizes dance recitals and feels Indian at that point before they put on their office suits and merge with the mainstream. I am working towards changing that...and you'll be surprised how many takers there are for Indian and south Asian dance as a serious way of life in Britain."
- Mira Kaushik in 'Jewels in the British Crown' by Sushmita Bose (Sunday Hindustan Times, New Delhi, March 4, 2007)

"At every performance, I want there to be at least one person who hits his nose on the closed door of the theatre because it's sold out"
- Guy Laliberte, Cirque du Soleil's founder
('Cirque Dreams Big' by Steve Freiss, Newsweek, July 28, 2003)

"I've heard great thumris from Abdul Karim Khan, Bade Ramdasji, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan... But a woman singer brings a special quality - and mind you, it has to be a married woman, not an inexperienced girl, to do justice to the complex experiences of love. I saw Shambhu Maharaj and Lacchu Maharaj dance thumris, and that opened up a whole new understanding of how to shape, fine tune, and empower the facets of love� People think that thumri was a late development in the Mughal durbar. No, no. It is an ancient form going back to the padam of Carnatic music.
I sing for my guru. I sing for God. I am happy if you like my singing, but not unhappy if you don't. I have passed many stages in my life. Now, I know that nothing is greater than music."
- Girija Devi in 'Queen of thumri' by Gowri Ramnarayan, The Hindu Metro Plus, Nov 11, 2008

"I can do my dance, and I can feel one thing, and the audience member can see it and feel another, and
there's nothing wrong...It gives everybody a lot of room"
- Douglas Dunn (DCA News Spring 2000)

"There are more listeners than ever before. In earlier days, you would rarely see a house full for a classical concert but now any good concert sees a sea of people. You find people chatting away to glory either with the next person or on the phone. If it is a doctor attending to an important call, I understand but not otherwise. There is a certain protocol one needs to follow. If you are such a busy man, then why come to a concert? Just think of the musician who is performing with highest intensity and concentration on the stage. It is very disturbing. (Unlike many classical musicians who belong to one style or gharana, Shubha chose not to attach herself to any one particular gharana or technique) I think what's more important than the gharana is to attribute the songs to the respective gurus and I do that on stage."
- (Shubha Mudgal in 'A class apart' by Mangala Ramamoorthy, The Hindu Metro Plus, Oct 27, 2008)

"Music and silence combine strongly because music is done with silence, and silence is full of music."
- Marcel Marceau

"Today's dance pattern is focused towards different goals. It revolves round the survival and the successful sustenance of the individual artiste. While aiming at this, the artiste has to take care of various commercial aspects of the art, which serves as a "form of entertainment and a medium of communication."
- Nandini Ramani
("Maargam-a challenge for dancers," The Hindu, Dec1, 2004)

"When Alexander the Great visited Diogenes and asked whether he could do anything for the famed teacher, Diogenes replied, "Only stand out of my light." Perhaps some day we shall know how to heighten creativity. Until then, one of the best things we can do for creative men and women is to stand out of their light."
- John W. Gardner

"I want to bring children into music, which should be user friendly. Parents compel their children to practise and expect them to perform. I think there should be no agenda. In Finland, the crowd that had no idea of Carnatic music sat through my concert that included RTP, padam, javali, etc. Why would it not be possible here with our children? I think we put too much of pressure on our children with performance as the goal. Let them blossom on their own. Fine arts - be it music, theatre, dance, or puppetry - should be made compulsory in schools. No other country can boast of such a rich cultural heritage. All may not become performers, but at least they'll learn to appreciate the arts. After all we need rasikas too�"
- Bombay Jayashri in 'I want to bring children into music' by V Balasubramanian,
The Hindu Friday Review, Sept 5, 2008)

"I'm not interested in how people move; I'm interested in what makes them move."
- Pina Bausch

"With ever burgeoning demand for dance teachers, our gurus today have less need to take on students with little talent, merely because they bring in the money. But is greed taking the place of need? It is true that the standard of teaching classical dance today in institutions leaves much to be desired. Is it not time to have an organisation to look into such grey areas and act as a go-between in disputes?"
- Leela Venkataraman in 'When gurus trip the students!' The Hindu Friday Review, July 25, 2008

"Thought flows in terms of stories - stories about events, stories about people, and stories about intentions and achievements. The best teachers are the best story tellers. We learn in the form of stories"
- Frank Smith

"My exposure to diverse dance forms and fine arts such as painting and sculpture has let me redefine tradition and modernity in dance and come up with several original productions. A choreographer should think out-of-the-box. The labels that we refer to as sacred are man-made and inadequate when you want to undertake creative challenges�.
The line between the sacred and profane is thin. A dancer expresses through the body, which is a sensuous instrument. And you need a good body to express effectively. But if he or she is going to use it to titillate, it would be an assault on the senses. Today's audiences are quite discerning and will soon recognize such gimmicks"
- Ramli.Ibrahim in 'Transcending barriers' by Chitra Swaminathan, The Hindu Friday Review, Feb 15, 2008

"An essential portion of any artist's labor is not creation so much as invocation"
- Lewis Hyde

"Indian choreography, mostly, has not gone beyond the concept that a teacher with students makes a troupe. Professional dancers don't team up with other professional dancers to work as equals. The result is, either students appearing with the teacher are below par in comparison, or mature students' gurus look, well, too mature!
�Dancers could try working with well-rounded theatre personalities who can see the dance in all its dimensions and offer editing tips. Otherwise, there is the danger of self-indulgence - virtuoso dancing, which does nothing to move the theme forward.
�Festival directors can add focus by discussing themes with dancers. We are an undemanding audience. One often hears slip-ups and unprofessional production values condoned because 'at least this much is happening'. Over a half a century has elapsed since the renaissance of India's classical arts. Perhaps it's time to replace condescension with a sense of critiquing (as opposed to criticising)."
- Anjana Rajan, 'A fog of new ideas,' The Hindu Friday Review (Delhi), March 21, 2008

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires"
- William A Ward

"Today concerts are held in far greater comfort for artiste and listener, but there is fuss in the air; fuss about the sound systems about the lighting 'effects.' Artistes and their accompanists spend an inordinate part of the limited time adjusting and re-adjusting the amplification, often betraying very short tempers. Each member of the ensemble demands individual attention from harassed sound technicians. Today, technology is not to the aid of music as much as music the aid of technology."
- Gopalkrishna Gandhi, West Bengal Governor ('The living legend' by V Balasubramanian, The Hindu Friday Review, March 14, 2008)

"Art, which is truly beautiful, knows no barriers of race, religion or country and can really help in furthering Universal Brotherhood"
- S Sarada

"My exposure to diverse dance forms and fine arts such as painting and sculpture has let me redefine tradition and modernity in dance and come up with several original productions. A choreographer should think out-of-the-box. The labels that we refer to as sacred are man-made and inadequate when you want to undertake creative challenges....
The line between the sacred and profane is thin. A dancer expresses through the body, which is a sensuous instrument. And you need a good body to express effectively. But if he or she is going to use it to titillate, it would be an assault on the senses. Today's audience are quite discerning and will soon recognize such gimmicks"
- Ramli Ibrahim in 'Transcending barriers' by Chitra Swaminathan, The Hindu Friday Review, Feb 15, 2008

"I hear, and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do, and I understand"
- Chinese Proverb

"Physical and emotional discipline is mandatory for dance. You cannot afford to get perturbed and irritated with things around you. If so, it will affect your art. The stage is a mirror; it reflects your inner-self. Bharatanatyam is one of the oldest dance forms of India. And to learn and practise that, one needs to have dedication and spiritual orientation on top of discipline."
- Rama Vaidyanathan ('Steps of dedication' by Sangeeta, The Hindu Friday Review, Feb 8, 2008)

"It's very important for people to see the dance and not the dancer."
- C V Chandrasekar

"I am a little disappointed that great abhinaya artistes like Sudharani Raghupathy and Sonal Mansingh are not releasing Abhinaya DVDs so that young artistes can compare their subtle style of emoting. A monopoly is never good neither is the rampant copying of one style of a particular artiste good for the art form. I have been lucky to study abhinaya with Sudharani and she is one of the best interpreters of traditional poetry in the post independence era.
Also, we have been cut off from the wonderful repertoire of traditional devadasi artistes who are still alive and accessible to many if interested. They are generous women who are visited by a select group of students and scholars who wish to be reminded of the gentle and sensitive way of approaching lyrics. However, they are not stars neither do they have star students who can carry their banner forward.
The danger of lies being told consistently is that, even if the emperor has no clothes, lies eventually become truth =myth=legend."
(Anita Ratnam, in Narthaki Discussion Forum, Feb 2, 2008)

"No man can be a good teacher unless he has feelings of warm affection toward his pupils and a genuine desire to impart to them what he himself believes to be of value."
- Bertrand Russell

"I am a dreamer, not a thinker. When you think, the barriers of real life confront you. Thinkers are seldom big achievers. They give up soon. I don't give up on my dreams."
(Guru Gangadhar Pradhan in 'Dreams do come true' by Hariharan Balakrishnan, The Hindu Magazine, Jan 13, 2008)

"One cannot buy experience. That's what is important in every field."
-Yamini Krishnamurti ('The power of experience' by Anjana Rajan, The Hindu, Dec 7, 2007)

We tend to feel, if someone is in the house and pressing the guru's feet, it's a great parampara going on. For me it's much deeper than that. It is a kind of osmosis, there is so much give and take, the thought processes too, besides the dance. It's a growing and maturing together. That osmosis, that transfusion of the spirit and ethos and reasoning is as important as knowing where this hand is going, where this foot is to be placed.
When you say 'student,' there is a mindset that it is only the technical aspect being passed on�.All in all, it depends on what you make of a relationship, just like in a marriage. I would say the guru has to be honest to give. There should be respect both for the student and the guru. It has to be within. It doesn't mean I have to fall at the feet of the guru for 10 minutes. Like people who do puja for an hour every day and then are ready to stab others!
(Shovana Narayan in 'Change is the only constant factor' by Anjana Rajan - The Hindu Friday Review, Nov 2, 2007)

"Critics... critics...critics! They come in different shapes and sizes. In different categories. Good critics, respectable critics, bad critics, indifferent critics, responsible critics, half-baked critics, ignored critics of yesteryear, pampered critics of the present, well-intentioned decent critics, crooked irresponsible critics, perverted critics, sadistic critics, venomous critics...the classification seems endless!"
- S. Balachander in 'A sabha 75 years old' by S Muthiah, The Hindu Metro Plus, Dec 10, 2007)

"There's so much openness now that you need not fear expressing yourself. If you are happy following what has been passed on to you, fine. If you want to explore, this is the time!"
- ('Music binds our country together for music has no religion' by Amjad Ali Khan, The New Sunday Express, Aug 12, 2007)

"Thank God that today, we have corporate houses and NRIs who are committed to take the cause of music forward and give due respect to musicians. There have also been times where musicians and courtesans were not given a place to sit when performing in some darbars. They had to stand and play - this included tabla and sarangi players. Shehnai players were made to perform from the third or fourth floors of the darbars to avoid excess noise. Earlier, very often, artisans in general were treated like untouchables. There has been a tremendous evolution in the artistic community from that point in history."
- 'Ghatam' S Karthick
('Want to explore? This is the time!' - The Hindu Metro Plus, Oct 30, 2007)

"An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don't."
- Anatole France

"My aim is to communicate with the last man in the audience. Art minus communication is meaningless. The term 'abhinaya' is not just facial expressions. It means drawing the spectator to an idea. Look at the modern advertisements. It's contemporary abhinaya. But one who creates should know what has to be completely and what has to be suggestively portrayed. That is ethical aesthetics. The Natyasastra says a production must be such that a family should be able to watch it together."
- Padma Subrahmanyam in 'There's never a dull moment' � The Hindu, Oct 5, 2007

"Dancing is the poetry of the foot."
- John Dryden

"Dance has become a favourite community activity, with debut performances celebrated like weddings and young women using this as a means of empowerment. Dancers known for excellence, originality, and truly worthy artistic expertise have to now co-exist with the novice, the wannabe-stars and the manipulative masters of the hype. The art of survival has been well understood by the few grand masters of dance. They are no easy pushovers."
(The art of appreciating dance by Lakshmi Viswanathan, The New Sunday Express, Aug 12, 2007)

"I am very particular about being fit. Now I dance for my own pleasure. I switch on the music and dance. The more items you practice, the fresher they are in your mind. Do you know that practising one varnam and one jatiswaram is more strenuous than walking on the treadmill for one hour? The sweat just pours down; at the end of it, physically my body feels very light and mentally I feel very happy. All the stress drains away with the sweat. But if I am not dancing, I walk briskly from 4.30 to 5.30 in the morning in a residential area close to home."
- (Rhadha in 'With an eye on finer details' by Rupa Srikanth, The Hindu, Aug 3, 2007)

"I see dance being used as communication between body and soul, to express what is too deep to find for words."
- Ruth St. Denis

"There will be no wisdom, no learning, no art, nor craft, no device, nor action that is not found within natya."
- Bharata, Natya Sastra

"I think when you are exposed to the highest standards you invariably become more discerning and appreciative of the true aesthetics of the art. I feel as an artiste, it is my responsibility not to play to the gallery but reach out and take the audience along with me to explore the power and beauty of Bharatanatyam."
(Alarmel Valli in 'My festival' The Hindu, Music Season, Jan 3, 2006)

"All aspects of dance should aim at the evolution of mankind and for refining individuals. So, dance is used for cleansing of the self and reflecting the divine, resulting in happiness. So, any real art must only express the divine."
- S Sarada

"Art and life are not two different things for me. Both teach you to relate to things at the sublimal and ordinary levels. Music helps you deal with every situation. It soothes and matures you. Following a tradition and a custom is not the same. Tradition allows you to think and create, while custom will make you stereotyped."
- Amjad Ali Khan in 'Why is the Ustad angry?' by Chitra Swaminathan (The Hindu, Feb 1, 2007)

"You don't stop dancing from growing old; you grow old from stopping to dance."
- Anonymous

"There is this popular perception that one is a successful contemporary dancer because one is a failed traditional dancer. That's not true. It is so tough to be a contemporary dancer because in today's times, we have a shortage of original and different ideas. Dance does not pay. I can't go and tell someone to become a dancer. Dance is a feast and famine business."
Anita Ratnam ('I have to find new answers because I have more questions' in Khaleej Times)

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires."
- William A Ward

"It is inevitable that all art forms should change, but I feel that even though there are no longer people who are prepared to stay up all night watching a Kathakali play, the intrinsic quality of Kathakali is so great that I can't help thinking it will go on for ever, even if not in the form I remember."
- David Bolland ("Record of art" by K K Gopalakrishnan, The Hindu, Aug 8, 2004)

"All Indian arts were connected with the temple at one time - it was the center of all activity. But there is a division - one is anushthanam or ritual, the other is kala or art. Anushthanam is a part of the worship, but the kala is where there is aesthetic experience, where the spectator is sitting and watching; that is art."
- G Venu (Nuances, First City, Jan 2004)

"Bhakti and rakti are equal in status to reach salvation. A certain class of people is perhaps uncomfortable with it. There is hypocrisy in our society. If the song is in Sanskrit and the viewers cannot understand the words, they won't mind. Generally, viewers are amazed that sexual motifs can be so beautiful and artistic. While the motif of eroticism has been commented upon, it has not been adversely commented upon."
(Swapnasundari in 'Dedicated to dance,' the Hindu, June 5, 2005)

"Humanity finds interest in fine arts. Only the level of interest varies. A world without sound and colours would be a world with no life. With more involvement in fine arts there will be less negativity in this world and with lesser negative vibrations the universe will be filled with harmony and peace."
- Vittorio Di Lotti
('Interest in fine arts will promote harmony' by V Balasubramanian, The Hindu, Oct 6, 2006)

"For all those who are interested in the spiritual, emotional, intellectual, esthetic, historical or any other aspects of our dance art, the sculptures are the primary source. They depict what was really in vogue and are not mere fantasies. By studying them, we will not only regain Bharata's art in the real sense, but also have the profit of the 2000 years of evolution this art has undergone.
Proper preservation of the dance sculptures in the country is an immediate necessity. Spoiling them by white-washing and covering them by careless constructions should be ruthlessly prohibited. An extensive survey of all the dance sculptures of our country and the Far East will reveal valuable facts. Evidently individuals cannot afford to do this. Educational foundations and universities should come forward to undertake such gigantic projects. It is high time that our universities had faculties for dance, giving the art its due place in the academic world."
('Bharatha Natyam - Classical Dance of the Ancient Tamils: The Role of Dance Sculptures in Tamilnad' by Padma Subrahmanyam)

"Forget the dancer, the center of the ego. Become the dance. Then the dancer disappears and only the dance remains. Then the dancer is the dance. There is no dancer separate from dance, no dance separate from the dancer."
-Acharya Rajneesh

"You don't have to be a Christian to feel the swooning power of gospel music. You don't have to be a Muslim to be thrilled by qawali. I'm an atheist and materialist but I'm excited, touched and inspired by the art of Willaim Blake, Kabir, Curtis Mayfield, Giotto � all of it saturated in faith. And I don't see that as a contradiction.
We atheists and materialists have to admit that in the end there remains a mysteriousness to life that is not merely a mystification. There are basic questions which humans ask to which we cannot give definitive answers. The impulse to explore these mysteries seems to me healthily human and not inherently retrogressive or escapist. And whatever happens to religion in the future, art will remain one of the prime means by which we engage in that exploration."
(Mike Marqusee in 'The Alchemy of Art'- Hindu, May 14, 2006)

"An artiste's caliber is not measured by an award that he wins, but the place he enjoys in the heart of art aficionados."
- Sadanam Ramankutty Nair
('Popularising a school of acting' by K K Gopalakrishnan, The Hindu, Jan 6, 2006)

"The emerging trend is quite worrying as the focus is shifting from sharing artistic values to gaining popularity with a lot of razzmatazz. But there's always faith and hope for a better tomorrow. Of late, the festival has been gaining a harder perspective. Dance and music are no longer seen in isolation. For instance, a festival of films on art was held during December. Though it's nice to see so much happening, in the sound and fury, most often the sahitya and sruti are lost. Rasanubhuti would be better when we find silence, which is part of melody." (Malavika Sarukkai in 'My Festival,' The Hindu, Music Season, Jan 10, 2006)

"Each tradition establishes its own identity redefining its boundaries resulting in the emergence of diverse traditions. Nothing is permanent. We need to develop an attitude of tolerance towards new trends and reorient our outlook."
- Leela Ramanathan ('A life less ordinary by Tara Kashyap', The Hindu, Bangalore, Oct 27, 2006)

"My long association with classical dance forms makes it difficult for me to change and accept radical transformations. On further thought, I feel change is inevitable and dance is no exception. Modernity need not be viewed as a thing to be confronted. Many a time certain aspects of modernity have helped regeneration. Hence, the introduction of new conceptualisation and innovative techniques are necessary for dance to grow. However not at the cost of tradition. Branching off or grafting need not necessarily involve uprooting the tree. Dance has existed in India and the introduction of new forms need not be a cause for concern. I believe that ultimately it is the core values that enable art forms to survive."
- Leela Ramanathan ('A life less ordinary by Tara Kashyap,' The Hindu, Bangalore, Oct 27, 2006)

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