In Reply to: Why do dancers TALK so much? posted by M S Chandramouli on March 01, 2006 at 07:55:31:

 I find that the most experienced and reputed performers from India (for example Alarmel Valli, Shobhana, Malavika Sarukkai, etc.) are quite effective in their "talk." Their pre-dance abhinaya demonstrations are even interesting to those who are well versed in dance; they are clear and concise. Perhaps this is because they have had much experience with international audiences.

On the other hand, I cannot see why local performers feel the need to elaborate on their performance and on the history of dance to such an extent that they bore the audience. I have seen this even at arangetrams in the U.S., where the MC will step aside from the mic every two seconds to demonstrate a single mudra! And all this is while the audience is 99% Indian and most likely has a clue about dance already.

My point is that talking is fine, but it has to serve a purpose and offer even those educated rasikas something of interest.
 

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