Posted by mallika on November 12, 2007 at 20:31:35:

 In Reply to: Re: start a movement posted by Sangeetha on November 11, 2007 at 23:44:45:

 hi all,
i agree with all what u say- the dancer has to be good etc(by mr.santosh) but that doesnt solve the problem
1) i havent come across a single dance student( including myself once upon a time) who sees classical dance as a profession. its just a way to be in shape and hobby, a good time pass for girs( according to mothers)that can make them more likeable by their future marital matches.
2)may be the increased stress levels, lack of time etc and the passing on traditional thinking that classical music is boring, is making slow items whith abhinaya and lenghty items difficult to sell.
3)i do bharatanatyam professionally. i havent earned a single cent doing it till now. thats not my main intention- to earn, but nobody pays.
4)even when i'm doing it for free- i cant perform a padam, shabdam even a varnam. how abt that?
5) one has to come to a concert and watch it to judge whether the performer is good. last year there was an invocatory piece here, without head and tail, it was a fusion and adjuged the best piece so far. whereas the thyagaraya keerthana"ksheera saagara shayana" everybody found it endless and boring...i felt guilty to present it to people who cant appreciate the value of a thyagaraya keerthana. another classic example is, not long before, i had an abortion, and the doctor strictly told me no dancing or any hard work for 15 days, but i had a show that weekend, so i opted for something i didnt need to practice-idadhu padam-didnt go well coz i could not get the poses properly and lack of practice showed. after if finished, people rushed to me and said it was fabulous.they meant it.thats all they know.
there can be many such examples. but solutions are limited. in india, i remember, there was an increase in demand to learn classical music after movies like 'shakharabharanma'(a telugu movie) released. also shows like 'padalani undi'(telugu musical talent show) sa re ga ma pa etc invoked interest for classical music. what to do abt dance. there was a show co hosted by prabhudeva on starplus channel- mainly western dance, but atleast good dance, but classical was not at all ignored.in india u can do such things but what to do abroad? y cant classical dance be a profession and get u food?
 

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