Point of View
Sukanya Sankar, Trustee, The Sruti Foundation that has, over the last three decades been publishing the Sruti magazine, makes some keen observations on the shifting nature of the arts, how the magazine strives to preserve tradition while support innovation and how in a sense, it is crucial to keep honing your craft and practice resilience for a long-lasting meaningful stint in this world of the arts… What, when, where and how did the idea of this book occur? The idea of the book happened during the pandemic when Sasi (Sasirekha Rammohan) found the old published books of jathis published by Kamala Rani Teacher in the 90’s. Since the notations were not clear and she knew that I had studied with Kamala Rani Teacher, we started deciphering all the 200 jathis meeting over Zoom, everyday. What started just as way to use time during the lockdown usefully turned out to be material for an e-book. Why do you believe Kamala Rani’s work needs to be documented? Going by the standards of today’s Instagram-obsessed world, Kamala Rani would have been quite a star! The first woman nattuvanar mentored in Kalakshetra, from a non-hereditary family to wield the cymbals, and sing for Kalakshetra dramas for four decades and more….What a fiery spirit she had! Not only did she perform but also she framed a methodology for teaching nattuvangam to scores of up and coming dancers in Chennai and abroad. Her exposure to nattuvangam was influenced by the early nattuvanars who were in Kalakshetra like Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai, Chokkalingam Pillai, Dhandyudapani Pillai, to name a few. She imbibed their musicality and the use of traditional sollukattus used for Bharatanatyam. From this corpus, she composed her own jathis keeping the beauty of their work alive. What were some of your learnings while attempting to document this work? Notating 200 jathis in the Carnatic format was easier said than done. We had to first make sure that the jathis were being recited correctly. Next came the job of notating it accurately. Since we wanted to make it available in both Tamil and English, we had to cross-check our work several times. The best decision was to record the jathis so that those wishing to use the jathis would have an idea of the way it should be recited. Can you give us some inroads into the structure and flow of this e-book and who will find it especially useful? We have provided notations of 100 Adi Tala Jathis and 100 Rupaka tala jathis that Kamala Rani composed in her lifetime. The e-book comes along with professionally recorded audio of all the jathis. This book will be very useful for Bharatanatyam performers and teachers who want to use these jathis in their own solo or group choreography. Besides, the e-book is also an archive in the history of nattuvangam. The sollukattus (spoken rhythmic syllables) used for Bharatanatyam now have evolved over time to include mridangam and other percussive sollus. The earlier sollukattus were designed specially for natyam. It is important to document this evolution. As researchers yourself, do you believe the dance landscape is rich with ongoing research; your word of advice for young researchers? To answer the first part of your question, I’d say, absolutely! Young students today are curious to know how this heritage has evolved. There is a lot more interest in documentation and looking back in time. My only advice is that we do not fall into the trap of looking at history through just one lens and making it a linear story. What we are able to access, read and see into the past is also limited by availability of material and the sources that we find. It is important to keep an open mind as a researcher and keep the current practice of art forms alive so that research does not become mere theory and jargon. At the end of the day, it must enrich our understanding and contribute to making art richer in the years to come.
Point of View
Canada-based dancer-choreographer and founder of Sampradaya Dance Creations in Toronto, Canada, shares her thoughts on the impact of the pandemic on her company and the arts in general. The pandemic was unprecedented and dramatic in its impact on the arts across the globe. One was totally unprepared for having to shut down and to cease operations so abruptly. Performances were cancelled, new creations left half completed and a general sense of alarm and anxiety about the future. Artists who have always lived on marginal livelihoods faced a precarious situation of having to consider giving up a life in the arts. For Sampradaya Dance Creations, it was imperative to stay in operation, to nurture our dancers and staff. To provide them emotional and financial support, continued use of our studios to rehearse to create. We in Canada were very fortunate to receive subsidies from the Government to support our operations, pay rent and overheads while our revenue sources had completely stopped. It was a time for introspection; to uncover the meaning and value of dance for each of us individually and how to make it more authentic, meaningful and impactful for our audiences and to society. We embraced the concept of sharing dance digitally through commissioned works, dance festivals, series and conversations. Supporting emerging artists through online mentored choreographic residencies was a priority for Sampradaya. A clear sense of a global community of dance artists emerged through the digital exchanges of dance conversations. Amidst the sense of isolation the pandemic forced upon us, the blessing of technological connectivity and new collaborative initiatives was a distinct breakthrough. I saw that there would be no turning the clock back; as we all prepared for a new era of hybrid offerings of live and streamed performances, well produced dance films and multi-disciplinary works showcased online Today, we see a return to in person classes and rehearsals for new productions. Audiences who were wary of in-theatre performances are eager for live performances and willing to go through the various steps of safety protocol. Larger theatres with Broadway scale shows are seeing encouraging levels of audience attendance. Live streaming of international dance productions has exponentially increased the offerings that one rarely had access to. Today we are on the threshold of a promising future of dance connectivity that can lead to engagement, collaboration, activism. We have the right to have a voice for the future. BOX
POINT OF VIEW
An excerpt from a speech by Neila Sathyalimgam as she received an award, where she recalls the genesis of the name, Apsaras and raises a toast to the future of Indian arts, in Singapore. “It was in the year 1977 and there was a competition. The competing groups had to come up with interesting names for their group, and I asked my husband to think of a name and it was he who came up with the name Apsaras. My husband was very smart while choosing that name and said to me, “Neila remember, you have the dancing angles in Chinese dance, Apsaras like Urvashi, Rambha, Menaka in our tradition. So I think it is a universal name in that sense. In south east Asia, this name would definitely go.” That’s how the name Apsaras was born! The Ceylon community here was very strong in the projection of all the arts like music, instruments, et al. They jumped up when they knew that my husband knew music and I knew dance and that’s how I started teaching and began my basic classes under the umbrella of the Ceylon Tamil Association at Handy Road. We are very very influenced by South East Asian culture. We do a lot of amalgamation with different dance traditions. In fact, in Angkor Wat, we had the Malay dancers for the warriors. I thought that was an excellent platform for us, to create a new idea in Indian dance where we collaborate with South East Asian traditions. I still enjoy those invigorating experiences on how to teach and it really keeps me occupied. My mind is always working on new choreographies, and what would I do next. In fact, I look at new fashion magazines, to get the latest material in terms of costumes and their trends; everything that surrounds me, you know. For a teacher to be successful, it is not only the teaching that matters; you must have every essence of every part of dance, from lightning to sound to music. So many things that you have to choose perfectly to perform an item. So I think I have done an extremely good job. Today, I find, I have at least 40 students who are already teaching and propagating dance. Singapore has a great future where the Indian dance platform is concerned, because the interest has grown. Singapore now is known for a platform of good standards and good knowledge and I hope we are going to continue with that trend in the years to come.”
POINT OF VIEW
As a huge loyalist of the world of social media, Akhila Krishmamurthy, Founder of Aalaap, shares some thoughts on the good, bad and the ugly and why dabbling with it, is a story of to each, its own Over the last two-and-a-half-years or so, around the time we all burrowed ourselves into the security and comfort of our homes, while an epidemic gripped the world and rattled our senses, artistes and arts organisations from across the world, turned to social media as a means of refuge, a source of succour. Through the years of the lockdown, personal social media handles became platforms for artistes to share, showcase and amplify their work with a larger universe. Some artistes had already built a brand identity on these platforms; while some others started afresh recognizing its power and potential for networking and as a means to build for oneself a brand of one’s own. A handful of artistes consciously opted to stay out of it, away from it, choosing to neither share nor express their points of view on the arts, or things off it, on these platforms. Over several conversations with several artistes – those who used social media extensively, moderately or chose not to engage with it at all – I take home many mixed perspectives and recognize that like most things that are inherently personal, social media too is a matter of choice. And like all the best things in life that must not be consumed in excess, social media too, we can conclude is an indulgence where it is crucial to apply the principles of moderation and caution. Thanks to Artificial Intelligence, my feed was exclusively dancers and all things dance. And while it was fantastic to discover young and new artistes from across the globe, I also grappled with a sense of angst as I wondered about the principles of good content, and how the ephemeral nature of social media was also crippling our brains and minds, shunting our focus, overloading our senses and making us inherently fragmented and distractible as human beings. I realized the first thing I would do, when yet another dance video came my way was to check its duration; and I realized that on some days, even watching a two-minute video seemed like a Herculean task; the mind had already moved on and was restless to check the next reel, the next post, the next new dancer sharing her dance or the old dancer giving her dance a new spin! But before you begin to question me about my value judgements, let me admit that I, as an individual and in my capacity as the founder of Aalaap, am hooked onto social media. It is where we have shared our joys and fears, our angst and anxieties, our growth and journey, our events and initiatives. As a performing arts magazine that was born in 2014, social media became a natural extension for us to curate content that we believe is honest, authentic, objective, inclusive, diverse and truly a celebration of the dance community, at large. And we have been on this bandwagon well before the pandemic arrived; we didn’t panic when we had to transition into this medium because even before that, we have been busy on these platforms, bringing people together, amplifying their stories and ours and doing our bit to create a culture of happiness and harmony amongst the community. But social media, we realise, one day after another, is a beast of its own and one that we need to negotiate our way through; it’s almost like a lover who will play hard to get (followers in this case) if you don’t water it consistently or allow it some outdoor so the sun shines its light for growth. Social media is a constant work-in-progress but also one that you need to think through in terms of the very principles of journalism – what, where, when, why, who, how! Everyday, we look through our content through these parameters and attempt to share content that truly elevates and brings joy. With the world now opening up, some artistes who were insanely active on social media have abandoned it for the real world; some others – like us – continue to stay with it because this is what we know and can do and don’t have the bandwidth or funds to curate large-scale events that need patronage and sponsorship. The best kind of growth on social media is also one that is organic; that believes in putting out good content and hoping for those who really find value in it to like it and share their comments on it. There are options aplenty to grow the numbers but honestly, what’s the point? Perception, perhaps? Would you like one million fake followers or a handful that truly engages with you in a manner that allows for mutual growth? We just wrapped up a conversation with two young dancers who spoke about how social media in the years of the lockdown opened up possibilities aplenty in terms of networking and opportunities and self-growth. I want to smile because I know that those who are committed to it sincerely, have truly benefited from it; the fly-by-night operators have gone away, already! Maybe they are not meant to stay! And maybe it’s better that way!
Point of View
The Dynamic of the Abhinaya Bharatanatyam exponent, Bragha Bessell reflects on all things Abhinaya, how she learnt it from her guru, and how Abhinaya is also a constant work-in-progress Let me start with Abhinaya, the art of expression. Let me reflect upon how it was taught to me and how it is taught in the world today. Most of the time, I try to follow the method in which Bharatanatyam exponent, Kalanidhi Narayanan – Maami, as we would call her – taught us. She’d first have us explore the lyrics and its meaning and then move to understanding the character and the choreography thereafter. Having said that, sometimes some small adjustments need to be made. Maami always taught classes, one-to-one. When I was invited to teach at the Kalakshetra, I had to teach to a group of students, together. This meant that I had to re-envisage the methodology a little to be able to reach more students within a short span of time. The style of teaching a private class, one-to-one, needless to say, is more intense, immersive and personal. For a group class, the approach needs to be quite different. Time is also a factor and the possibility to monitor progress and performance is also often not the same. Having said that, I must add that we all must understand that the arts cannot be static. It cannot stand still. Society keeps changing all the time and the arts is a direct reflection of the society that we live in. So, change is the only constant. Over the years, there are many new innovative ideas that have come our way. We see so many collaborative works of art, and so many new dance styles, themed productions, research subjects, et al. What has also changed is the time and the luxury of time. Back in the day, we’d take a month or more to learn an item. Through the year, we would have only two or three individual programmes and a few group performances for our gurus in a whole year. This allowed us time to soak in learning, understanding, practising and absorbing the pieces that we learnt before we took them to stage. Today, youngsters have many more opportunities as far as performances are concerned and as a result, the process of learning has had to undergo a shift. They have had to speeded up the overall learning process which in many ways can hamper and reduce the time spent on learning and understanding items. There’s also little time for reflection and introspection, both of which are crucial. What is also important is to repeat and keep returning to pieces that one has learnt; in fact, I’d say that only by the art of repetition does one comprehend and discover the depth of each and every piece. There are a few items that I have been performing over the last four decades or so and every time I perform them, I’d say my response to it is different. You refine it until you capture its essence; and once you have tasted that essence, you want to keep striving to capture it in all its glory. Having said that, and having established that change is the only constant, I’d also like to say that the art of Abhinay is constantly a work-in-progress and one that reflects the times that we live in. For instance, a 40-year-old dancer should not dance the way a 20-year-old does or can. Her performance should be a reflection of what and who she is now; it should be a reflection of her experiences. With the artiste evolving, so does the audience. Thanks to social media and its powerful presence and permeation into our lives, audiences have also evolved a great deal and are well-informed so it’s crucial for artistes also to constantly think of ways to be able to connect with them. After all, the artiste and the audience go hand-in-hand. One hand cannot clap without the other. Similarly, an artist cannot perform without an audience. The main purpose of arts is Rasa. Whatever changes we face in the world, it’s important they do not disturb the aesthetic beauty of the art form nor the values that our gurus nurtured in us.
Point of View
A Roots Perspective As part of the Natya Kala Conference NKC 2022, Dr Avanthi Meduri, spoke about the Bharatanatyam trees of T Balasaraswati and Rukmini Devi. Here’s an excerpt of her talk on these roots/routes In 2019, Rama Vaidyanathan rang me and asked if I would like to speak about the transnational legacies of Balasaraswati and Rukmini Devi. Rama explained that the younger generation know very little about these legendary pioneers and a lecture focussed on these women pioneers would be useful to them. She also requested that I speak in my role as an ‘academic’ and bring international discussions about Indian classical dance into the NKC forum with a view to generate inclusive debate and discussion. Since I had been given a brief, I followed through and spoke – at the Natya Kala Conference 2022 in December – as an academic who has researched the modern, colonial, national, diasporic, and global history of Bharatnatyam in the three countries of India US and UK, where I have lived and worked in the last two decades. The legendary T Balasaraswati and Rukmini Devi, were born into what is known as the greatest generation, which is the Western demographic term for a cohort of people born between 1900-1924. In the 1930s and 1950s, the two dance pioneers constituted a roots-based cultural history and aesthetic pedagogy for 20th century Bharatanatyam that was grounded in Indian tradition, and spirituality. They gave this as a historical gift to five generations of dance students who learned Bharatantayam in the Silent Generation also known as Traditionalist Generation (1928-1945), the Baby Boomers Generation (1946-1964), Generation X (1960-1970s) the Millennial Generation (1981-1996) and Generation Z (1996-2022). Constituted self -consciously within the ideological worldview of Indian cultural nationalism in the 1930s, the roots approach manifests itself as a foundational paradigm for the classical arts of India and has been used creatively by five generations of dancers, dance teachers, and scholars in India and abroad. It is this transhistorical paradigm that was renewed in Natya Kala Conference’s (an annual dance conference of the Krishna Gana Sabha) 40th anniversary celebrations in radically innovative ways over five days in the last week of December. A roots perspective is evolutionary in orientation and traces cultural continuities between historical pasts and contemporary presents. The approach looks backwards to cultural pasts, ancient traditions, literature, rituals and aesthetic texts to describe and analyse contemporary Bharatanatyam. Cultural ancestry, lineage, tradition, heritage, authenticity and cultural continuities are hallmark features of the roots-perspective. Bala developed her roots-based approach as an insider to devadasi traditions and focused on tradition, spirituality and the hereditary musical traditions of her family. Rukmini Devi developed her roots-perspective as a Brahmin outsider to devadasi dance traditions. Unlike Bala, Rukmini Devi did not inherit the dance tradition, but she laboured to possess the tradition by learning Bharatanatyam traditionally with doyens Meenaskshi Sundaram Pillai and Gowri Amma and also by associating Bharatanatyam with the galaxy of hereditary nattuvanars and music gurus that she gathered in Kalakshetra. Together and individually, both Bala and Rukmini Devi created two Bharatanatyam banyan trees which came to be known as the Balasaraswati and Kalakshetra styles of Bharatanatyam. Unsurprisingly, the dancers downplayed the stylistic differences in their modern recreations and maintained that their dance styles were continuous with and like the traditional Tanjore style represented by doyens Meenakshi Sundaram and Kandappa Pillai respectively. By not focusing on their own innovations, both Bala and Rukmini Devi articulated two very different roots- based history and aesthetic pedagogies for 20th century Bharatanatyam. In this paper, I integrated the roots’ paradigm, with travel routes and the travelling history of Bharatanatyam. I showed how the branches from the Bharatanatyam banyan trees that Bala and Rukmini Devi nurtured within the institutional context of MMA and Kalakshetra extended out of the remit of the institutions, entangled with branches from other Bharatanatyam trees founded in India and abroad in the period from the 1930s down to the present. The spreading branches, forged through travelling student communities, created a global, social structure and system for the widespread dispersal of Bharatnatyam both within India and the world at large. It is not surprising that, it is only after the demise of the dance pioneers in the 1980s that scholars working in India, US and UK were able to articulate a modern, revisionary socio-cultural history for twentieth century Bharatanatyam. Interestingly, this revisionary history was articulated by focusing on the transnational legacies of Bala and Rukmini Devi. In this lecture, I described how this global modern dance history was articulated around Bala, Rukmini Devi and devadasi women in the 1980s and 1990s and discussed the new challenges and opportunities opened up by this new field of dance studies in India and the world at large. I believe that we need to engage seriously with this transnational history, which is inscribed in a thirty-year history, because it is part of the living, practicing history of twentieth and 21st century Bharatanatyam. Millennial generation dance students need to know this modern, global dance history if they wish to pursue Indian dance studies either in India, US, Canada, UK, Australia or the world at large. In conclusion, some questions… Is Bharatanatyam an appropriated tradition? When did this appropriation occur, in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1980s, or 1990s? Is Bharatanatyam a Sanskritized Brahmin tradition today? Have the Tamil roots of Bharatanatyam been invisibilized by the foregrounding of the Natyasastra historiography? What is the provenance of caste in the 20th and 21st century revival? Can caste be isolated as a single-issue or must it be seen dialogically in relation to class and gender? Should the cultural policy for Bharatanatyam and Indian classical dance be updated to reflect the changing aspirations of new generations of classical dancers wishing to make dance a profession and career both in India and abroad? I put forward these questions in the NKC platform in the hope that new generation dancers, dance teachers, academics, and scholars will engage these by taking seriously the social history of
Point of View
Hema Rajagopalan, Artistic Director of Natya Dance Theatre talks about the changing trends and dynamics in the world of Indian classical dance The term classical stands for something that has been developed over a long time with a keen sense adhering to aesthetic principles and traditions. Creativity is at the very core of all our Indian Classical arts and springs from the roots, like water from a spring flowing in a continuous evolving stream. The various manifestations are bound by parameters laid down by traditions deeply connected to the art form’s reference points. Artistes must not create newness but must find them. Wanting to present something new has become trendy. We see a lot of fresh elements that add to raising the aesthetic enjoyment of the Rasika but some others that simply take away that quality. Thematic presentations Thematic solo performances of the Margam, a new trend has now become a norm. This can be challenging to create a performance with variety but definitely creates an interest in the audience. The traditional margam is often replaced these days by secular content on various topics. Choreography Since the mid nineties dance dramas and thematic group productions have engaged more audiences than a solo performance. Even pada varnams and slow paced padams are being presented as group choreography. While such presentations offer a fresh look and could be good, they often take away the depth of Abhinaya portrayed by soloists. Dancers are presenting works on secular themes and social issues like climate change, water scarcity or the plight of today’s farmers, intending to connect with diverse audiences to make a difference to the world. The use of space, geometry and creative movement vocabulary is being given more prominence and this certainly enhances the artistic quality. Music Musical accompaniment has been evolving. New trends being the addition of western instruments like the Drums, Saxophone and Piano. Music directors are incorporating more orchestration which seems to appeal to today’s audiences. Even if movements lose integrity, Nritta or pure dance performed at a high speed is commended. Introduction of silences, voice overs, prolonging emotions, creating more drama in lengthy items like a Varnam, are new ways of presenting content, sometimes very engaging. Props/ Sets/ Lighting The use of a variety of objects as props to express has become popular. Productions have come a long way by way of sets whether projected on a screen or on the floor including dancers sometimes interacting with those projected images/ videos etc. Lighting: From simple general wash for a solo performance, it has now become very necessary to involve a lighting designer who adds new dimensions to the content. Whether it is the Haze, LED lights, overhead spots or moving light that creates a path, the dancer seems to depend a whole lot on lighting. To summarize, I want to say that changes are very necessary in every aspect of the performing arts but we need to maintain a balance keeping in mind symmetry, harmony and rhythm in order to taste the beauty of Classical Indian Dance.
Point of View
Documenting Transitions Vidhya Subramanian, Bharatanatyam exponent, based in Chennai, shares her perspectives on the many shifts – over time – in teaching and learning in the world of dance Krishna transitions from desire to duty, from lover to king, from Gokulam to Mathura, from a life of leisure to the Gita. Change, sometimes abrupt and at other times measured, is a reality of life and transience is the only constant that has potential for growth but also results in loss. Transitions can be both appealing and arduous. I learnt from a traditional nattuvanar, Guru SK Rajarathnam as well as from Kalanidhi (Narayanan) Maami. How I teach today is, in many ways, informed by how they taught and yet also it is an amalgamation of my performance experience, life lived in the US, my move back to Chennai, and my personal negotiations with the art. Pedagogy was organic when I learnt, methodology developing simply from the day-to-day-ness of teaching and learning. Class would start without much preamble, a simple thatti kumbidudhal, and then on to the item/s to be worked on for the next two hours. With Kalanidhi Maami, I was first introduced to dialogue and analysis, although mostly pertaining to the composition being learnt. All through my learning period, there was no analysis of an idea, conversations about inward journeys, articulation of process, not even a warm-up or cool down. All of these, barring the warm-up and cool down, were simply present in the rigour of dancing, a rigour that revealed much more than words, if one had the patience. Lack of patience wasn’t a choice. Teaching became a part of my life at a very early age, courtesy, my move to the USA. As a young teacher away from home, I relied heavily on how I had learnt as a way to teach. Over time, I added warm-up, adavu categorization, theory lessons, accountability sessions, practice logs, strength training, stretching, a handbook, conversations, and social experiences with students. While setting compositions on my students, I chose to focus on the individual and their strengths/weaknesses as a dancer and a human, in part similar to the way I had learnt. The years of dancing, teaching and living in the USA, as well as a Masters with a focus on Bharatanatyam, meant a gradual expansion of methodology and management. Coming back to India regularly revealed that some of my peers in the field were doing the same. Words such as choreography, process, emotional access, relationship with space, balance and so many more we take for granted today, took on a deeper meaning as an entire generation of dancers began searching. Technology somehow both adds to and subtracts from this journey. Today, we have a young dance generation starved to learn, create, articulate, grow and disagree. It is both energizing and joyfully exhausting to engage with many of them. Teaching is an extension of all the work one has been doing so far and a necessary transference of legacy. For me it continues to be focused on the individual, except merged with the conversation that enriches the process. For many young dancers, the cerebral and the corporeal are in a simultaneous pact in the strive for excellence. Once in a while though, it is necessary to silence that head voice and simply dance. To let the emotions surface, to even revel in them, find the silence in them. The transition into an era of abundance has already occurred. As an entire generation of dancers matures in experience, it is important to reflect upon the conflict between duty and desire, to pause and wonder what defines growth and what has perhaps been lost and left behind.