Re: talents & promoters

Posted by Deva on December 07, 2007 at 05:58:20:

In Reply to: Re: talents & promoters posted by mallika on December 06, 2007 at 00:05:20:

Hi Mallika,
Thanks for your comment and letter. You have made some very interesing points.
You said in your msg,
"i agree to a larger extent to what u say when one should know all aspects of one's work. but i feel one not necessarily do it all the time- one u r well off and can afford it- better delegate it."

I feel that you have not contradicted but have only reeiterated my argument as this is exactly what I had said,

"There are many freelance dancers who have managed their careers beautifully, simply because they could not afford managers and expressly did not wish to employ managers. I agree however that for cases such as this success can also only be limited.
Its wonderful to have the holy trinity of agent, manager and accountant doing all the work for you. Definitely more efficient and helpful."

Now, about success. I define success as having vision, acquring the courage, strength and grit to make it real and and then actually making it real. Turning dreams into goals and fulfilling them.
Your dreams and ambitions are different to mine so its all relative. My success is different to yours. Just like the failures too. To quote Mr Kipling,

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

I believe a successful artist is someone who has realised and fulfilled their vision and desire to transform mankind thru art. As that is why art exists.

The Natyashastra reads, "when the world had become steeped in greed and desire, in jelousy and anger, in pleasure and pain, the Supreme one (Brahma) was asked by the people to create an entertainment which could be seen and heard by all, for the scriptures were not enjoyed by the masses, being too learned and ambiguous."
Why was it made? It was made to transform us. So that we know the truth, dance the truth and give it to our audience. That is abhinaya.

This is why the natyashastra is such a great scripture of the kalyuga.

The kalyuga..an interesting word...the age of annhilation. If you look at most of the Hollywood movies around you, they all deal with Apocalyptic themes. Apocalypto, 28 days later, Apocalypse now, The last man/legend ..you know the latest will smith film.
It is the intrinsic knowledge of mankind now that we are living in the age of destruction. Mankind is meant to be transformed, and to have found a new level of enlightenment before we head for complete annhilation. A kind of, Ah! Thats what it was all about! A short lived Eureka!
Anyway, thats a whole new discussion.

The reason I started delving into that is i feel that we all need to stop worrying just about our personal goals as artist and start thinking of where and how our goals fit into the Bigger plan. I believe once we have sussed that out, we will be successful in every sense of the word, as that would be for the cause of Absolute Truth.We would ride with the natural flow of the universe, we would understand the effortlessness akin to the growing of grass and the rising of the sun. It would all just happen. As that was meant to be. That is success to me. Something to really aspire to.

More than success, its a way of being.

: very intellectual input deva,
: i feel talent or not talent- its hardwork that pays. i have seen many talent people unsuccessful(yet success is a very personalised thing)but have never come across a unsuccessful hardworking person.personally i know when i c dancers like priyadarshini, anitha or even the not so well known dancers on videos and start feeling that i might not be as talented as they r- dont have a teacher here...- but i feel i am equally hardworking. every day i go thru my lessons learnt. i have huge three bedroom house with full wall wadrobes with complete mirrors. while i practice, i make sure i do it infront of the mirror, and i have seen i have improved leaps and bounds- even without a teacher- with due respects. the place i stay in, all that the people know of bharatanatyam here is something similar to what padma chebrolu does. i dont try to fool anyone or myself. i develop inferority when i watch gr8 dancers, but makes me jump up with vengence and practice more- taking into view the difference between practicing and byhearting.
: i agree to a larger extent to what u say when one should know all aspects of one's work. but i feel one not necessarily do it all the time- one u r well off and can afford it- better delegate it. the advantages of this can be seen in our own homes.
: i want to actually delve deeply into the point of success. what exactly means one is successful-lets limit it to -a successful artist. is it something u personly define like for eg. i feel if i can open a dance school, and have atleast 10 students,and a couple of good shows a year- thats being successful for me. what do u think?