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