"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)
 
 
"A choreographic idea flows only as fast as the initiator can communicate it to bodies and see them realize it."  
- 'Translations' by Marcia B Siegal in Dance Ink, Spring 1993
 
 
"Just like it is rare to get a good guru, it is equally rare for gurus to get a good disciple. Every performer is not an able guru and vice-versa. Not everyone has the kind of patience required for teaching." 
- Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma, santoor exponent 

"There is a lack of proper taleem because a lot of today's gurus are top performers and have one foot in India and the other in the US all the time. When will they teach?" 
- Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia, flautist 
('Heir Gloom' by Arindham Mukherjee, Outlook, Sept 25, 2006)
 
 
"To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing."  
- Elbert Hubbard
 
 
"For me, the best part is improvising and seeing how you can express yourself. I have always added dance to my productions. When I was directing theatre, I added dance sequences where they didn't exist in the play. I think dance is the ultimate form of expression." 
- Valerie Weiss, film maker 
(Her film, "Dance by Design," is about a woman studying architecture who falls in love with dance)
 
 
"Great people should mean people great in living their lives, whether famous or not, because there may be great people who remain unrecognized." 
- Rukmini Devi
 
 
"When I first started playing with dancers, my peers started saying haath khul jaayega and my playing would suffer. But I was confident that playing with dancers would only enhance my chaumukha or versatile playing." 
(Tabla maestro Kishan Maharaj in 'The reign of Raja and Maharaj,' The Hindu, Delhi June 9, 2005)
 
 
"An ounce of performance is worth pounds of promises."  
- Mae West
 
 
The pristine purity of Bharatanatyam should never be compromised. Luckily, this program was billed only as 'dance' and not as 'Bharatanatyam.' 
('Full of poise' by B M Sundaram, The Hindu, Music Season, Jan 3, 2006) 

Altering other's compositions is best avoided. It is common for some dancers to change a few words or lines in some Padams, as they appear lewd. Instead, they can opt for some other Padam. 
Songs, just for their srungara content cannot be called Padams. 
('Exotic and expressive' by B M Sundaram, The Hindu, Music Season, Jan 6, 2006)
 
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