Posted by Arul Francis (64.140.92.194) on September 26, 2005 at 19:57:01:

 "contemporary women artistes are a threat to the establishment. Only very slim, petite, anorexic exotic doll-like classical dancers are patronized by international presenters and our own government. "

It is true that there are prejudices that prevent certain talented dancers from getting the recognition that they deserve. But these have to do primarily with skin color (dark complexion) and caste/class. And these work in Ms. Ratnam's favour, not against her.

I agree that anything new requires a more open mind from the rasika. However, rasikas are not as hidebound as dancers think they are. I remember being at the Museum in San Francisco when Astad Deboo was performing many years ago and going to take a short look just out of curiosity although I had a very low opinion of modern dance and was sure it would be grotesque. But in fact, the performance was totally captivating and I stayed till the end.

So I feel if a performance has its own instrinsic power and beauty, then it will create its own audience, so long as you keep performing it regularly and give people a chance to see it. I don't think audiences care about categories or awards, it is just the experience of a performance that matters. It's sort of like food: you don't really care how it is classified, just how it tastes.