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Posted by Arul Francis on April 26, 2007 at 13:42:25:
http://desipundit.com/baradwajrangan/ on Apr 25 2007
<<<
“Rukmini Devi was the disciple of Meenakshi Sundaram [], of the Pandanallur
bani, but she allowed the dance to grow in her hands.
>>>
this would be like Andrew Lloyd Webber saying that he was originally inspired by beethoven symphonies but that he allowed it "to grow in his hands". Or like McDonalds saying "we were originally inspired by the Cordon Bleu" in paris, but after that we took it "and it grew in our hands". Or like the people who built the LIC building saying: we were inspired by the Taj Mahal but we took it and made it grow. Please!
<<<She attributes this rigour to why Kalakshetra doesn’t attract
middle-class students. “Very rarely has a South Indian child from the middle
or upper middle class come here, because they can afford to go to a private
guru, where gratification is instant and on one’s terms.
>>>
Ummm, this is not a fair comparison. Yes, there are corrupt teachers who will rush through items for a price, but to only compare yourself to the worst of the lot, of course you come off looking saintly. But it is a false saintliness. If you compare to the best of that category ("private gurus"), then, I mean, the leading private gurus tend to produce most of the leading dancers. as other dance critics have pointed out:
http://www.hinduonnet.com/folio/fo9812/98120060.htm
<<<
Just mugging up ... the “rigid way of teaching,” ...
I wouldn’t ... say, ‘Now copy me.’ I’d say, ‘How would you show a bird?
Let’s do birds.’ I believe that’s the only way
>>>
this is such a tired analogy. every dancer uses it to justify replacing an old masterpiece with a new piece of mediocrity. that mugging up is bad and that learning to "write one's poetry" is good. well, that depends. would you rather have your child mug up a shakespeare sonnet or would you rather have them come up with some feeble minded drivel of their own. I think that training is all about grounding: you only have them for 3 years - make them memorize a classic. After their training is over, let them do the creative stuff on their own. Not to mention that by its very definition creative stuff cannot be taught.
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