February 1, 2012
Whew! What a month this has been! Seated on the weighing scale in the
Kerala temple of Guruvayoor for the ‘Tulabaram’ offering at the crack of
dawn and my mind whirled through the past month. Images, moments,
memories… Where do I begin to share all that the packed 31 days has
offered up to us?
First, a question. Why have we all become like porcupines? Why do we
bristle at even the slightest criticism of our work? Not only dance, but
music, cinema, art… anything... the artiste has become a self styled,
self made genius... incapable of making any mistakes or being simply –
HUMAN.
Some recent incidents, two involving this very site has prompted this
question at the top of my editorial. First was a book review and then a
dancer and guru took umbrage at a critical review of a Music Academy
performance. In both cases, the reactions were totally uncalled for.
Dancers and critics have a constant dance of war and peace going on. In
India they socialize, argue, disagree, agree, praise, criticize, applaud
and denigrate one another as long back as I can remember. Dancers hate
to see anything but huge praise and so, over the years, dance writing
and reporting has become very weak and watered down.
The inaugural performance at the Music Academy, a prestigious slot was
given to the usually fabulous Priyadarsini Govind. Innumerable costume
and jewellery malfunctions were certainly not part of the choreography
but the performance was allegedly less than brilliant. However the
review was nothing short of extolling a Goddess on stage. What this does
is create an atmosphere where young dancers are subtly told that once
you are a star, you can do no wrong even if you are less than inspired
on a particular evening. Of course it is entirely possible that the
critic DID point out something in the performance and the copy editor
chose to remove it. In India anything can happen and the dance critic is
not as respected as before when not a single word was changed without
the writer’s permission. The larger question remains whether
critics should review ‘legends’ of dance anymore. While so many of these
diva/devis disappointed horribly this season, how does one respond to
mediocre shows? Can we all learn from the minimalism shown by
Vyjayantimala when she stood in a gorgeous Kanchipuram sari, tied
loosely at her waist and did subtle but glorious abhinaya while
receiving her Lifetime Achievement Award. She left us all thirsting for
more and imagining how marvelous she must have been in her prime.
Animated discussions every morning around the Music Academy canteens
were the most interesting. Conversations ranged from dance styles,
rehearsal tips, fitness and weight loss for dancers, articles,
contemporary performances, emerging talents and archiving methods. If
only we were flies on the wall or swarming around the steaming idlis,
dosas, vadas and sambars to listen in! And speaking of canteens,
the Music Academy watering hole notched up record sales on a single day
during the concert of a popular musician totalling 3 lakh rupees while
the dance season brought a meager 15,000 rupees daily only. So are music
audiences hungrier? Or just much, much, much larger?
After all the numerous performances of Bharatanatyam in Chennai
over the past two months, three artistes seem to be emerging with
confidence and strength. Navia Natarajan, Janaki Rangarajan and
Ramya Ramnarayan. All three live in the USA and are on the
cusp of important breakthroughs in their respective careers. With Los
Angeles born Mythili Prakash’s success story as a signifier, these three
women seem bent on committing to a life in dance. In these times
of such cynicism about the ‘margam,’ classical dance and the ‘ennui’ of
grinding sandal paste and stringing jasmine garlands, we wish them all
the luck and more. As for the UK, the dancers do not seem to want to
journey to India to prove anything. The cushy funding situation and the
confidence of ‘British Natyam’ has cleared space for dancers in the UK
and established a solid context for their continued presence in Britain.
Akademi’s seminar ‘LOOKING FOR THE INVISIBLE’ at London’s PLACE theatre
later this month will look to explore the difficulty in classical dance
training aligning with the notion of the abstract.
January has been a terrific and tremendously challenging month for me. A
play - LONG WAY HOME - by first time playwright Shekinah Jacob
premiered at both Prithvi theatre and the NCPA in Mumbai, a
dance-theatre presentation AVANI in Delhi on Tagore, a new ecology
themed Dance-Katha (UN-EARTH) offering in Chennai, a glossy
corporate dance launch at a huge convention centre and a talk to the IIT
students about “Passion over Profit” has made me totally drained.
All in the space of 8 days! Should I complain, celebrate or give thanks
for the variety in my artistic life or just stop and say, “Whoa
–Enough!” The truth is that ONE of these evenings (the corporate launch)
paid for ALL the others since the most prestigious gigs (including the
National School of Drama event) did not even cover my expenses. And THAT
is the truth of dance in India. And I don’t see it getting better.
However, the energy of Mumbai city and the warmth of the staff at
Prithvi and NCPA were so heartening. Such professionalism and such
efficiency. As for the NSD festival in Delhi, it was much the same with
an entire day given to each group to set up and focus lights and rig
sets which is a luxury for dancers in India. And the enthusiastic
theatre audiences and students who attended and who gave the work the
much needed non-dance perspective it needed was rewarding. From a
tentative start one year ago on the AVANI project and egged on by
Sharmila Biswas to pursue Tagore’s writings, AVANI-a handful of dust,
has become one of the favourite and acclaimed works in my
repertoire. However, with the Tagore mania sweeping the nation
now, all activity may cease after May 7, when the 150 birth anniversary
ends. For now, there are countless Tagore celebrations happening every
month in every corner of India.
Sitting next to one of my favourite choreographers Mark Morris in
Mylapore last month to watch Malavika’s performance was a surprise.
Morris is fun, brilliant and in love with Carnatic music. He visits
Chennai once in two years and adores the art and humour of dancer
Lakshmi Viswanathan. Now to visit his famous dance centre in
Brooklyn to which he extended a most gracious invitation and where
Parijat Desai conducts dance classes.
I shared a section of a new environment work called UN-EARTH in Chennai
for a socio/religious group. UN-EARTH explored the irony and real
life discrepancy of the much worshipped image of Vishnu asleep on
Adisesha afloat on the milky ocean with Lakshmi by his side and Brahma
floating above. Against a stunning curtain of empty water bottles and
reams of newsprint on a huge roll, the spoken word and movement piece
failed to deliver that evening due to a single reason. The mikes. They
hardly worked and when they did, they came on and off like a faulty
light bulb. What is it with technicians in Chennai who cannot imagine
anything except musicians seated on a dais on the side of the dancer?
Anything that needs them to stay concentrated, balance mikes and be
alert to the movement of the dancers who speak AND MOVE seems beyond
their capacity! I was broken hearted, along with my talented musical
ensemble but special guest eco-feminist Vandana Shiva loved UN-EARTH and
has encouraged me to develop the piece further. One continues
despite all these roadblocks.
Amidst the excitement of a new year and a new beginning, comes sad news.
We mourn the unexpected passing of designer Rex’s older brother and
scholar Davesh Soneji’s father. Both young men have been my
collaborators and friends for more than 15 years. Both passings coming
at the turn of the New Year has made me wonder about the fragility of
life and the urgent need to celebrate connections more than ever. And
what better way than to share the gift of the dancing body… an act that
is at once, generous, passionate, vulnerable, powerful and emotional. As
I attempt to reconnect with my international host families post
Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and revisit that city after my Master’s
studies in Theatre and Television 30 years ago, I come face to face
with friendship and loss. But the madness of Mardi Gras parades
should more than make up for the missing faces when I shout out to the
elaborate floats that pass by, “Throw me some dubloons mister…”
As you read this, I will be sashaying down a ramp dressed as DRAUPADI for a
benefit fashion show wearing an amazing one of a kind creation by
the iconic Ritu Kumar in a show directed by Neelam Mansingh Choudhry. A
benefit evening that combines theatre, textiles, choreography and
heritage skills on the fabulous lawns of the AMAN hotel in wintry Delhi
is the much needed diversion I need before I board the flight to really
snowy climes and a month of coats, hats, gloves, boots, scarves and ear
muffs!
Until next time then…
Anita R Ratnam
Chennai/ Delhi/ New York/ New Orleans/ Des Moines/ London
EPIC WOMEN: A Conclave of dance, theatre, scholarship and ideas – December 19 to 23, 2012, Chennai
Twitter: @aratnam
Facebook: Anita R Ratnam
Instagram: @anitaratnam
Blog: THE A LIST / anita-ratnam.blogspot.in
PS: Congratulations to all the Padma awardees and a special note that
dancers Minati Mishra (Odissi) and Pt Gopal Prasad Dubey (Chhau) made
the cut this year. More musicians, theatre practitioners and scholars
have been honoured.
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