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Posted by Arul Francis (67.174.215.136) on November 23, 2006 at 13:24:26:
"The intellectual center of Indian dance has moved out of India. ... The schism between dance and academics is wider than ever. The younger generation of Indian dance scholars " ("The Chicago Toofan", Ratnam, 11/6/06)
oh I totally disagree! in my experience, the real substance is still back in tamil nadu; this thin layer of NRI or diaspora dancers and their clouds of hype cannot equal seeing real substance and real talent in dance, which is so abundant back in madras. that's why people come in droves: it's not just woolly-headed nostalgia.
Academics and "Indian dance scholars": there is something very fake about this entire profession. I am not talking about the half-baked silly writers and poseurs. I mean, even serious "good" writers: I was recently reading Lakshmi Subramaniam's book published by OUP and previously Leslie Orr's book about devadasis in medieval TamilNadu. Yes, it's good "scholarship" - but so what? I still resent it. It's still a parasitical and dishonorable profession (like moneylender or PR) that produces nothing and comes in between the teacher-dancer-audience relation which simply doesn't need it. To produce great dance all you need are good teachers, good pieces and talented dancers - that's it. Academics are superfluous.
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