 If
one has been around in the dance world for 40 years, has travelled to four
continents and tread stages more than 1000 times in a lifetime, that should
make for an interesting life. That is my life. Having experienced dance
and performance through the many prisms as organizer, presenter, performer,
writer, documentarian, speaker and interviewer, I now wish to share my
views through a monthly column on this site.
Narthaki.com
has grown in size and dimensions but the overall nature of discussion remains
by and large bland. It seems that people only want to hear praise and any
dissenting voice is quickly muffled with allegations of betrayal or 'anti-culture.'
Even the greatest of gurus encouraged questioning from their sishyas. Today,
there is a terror wave spreading in dance where all moderate voices are
being silenced. Why should this be different from life itself? Are we not
seeing it in politics? Goonda-giri is the order of the day. The media space
for dance around the world is shrinking with editors more concerned with
celebrity gossip, sports and politics.
This monthly
column on narthaki.com called FRIENDLY FIRE will speak about my travels,
performances, conferences and encounters with dancers and artistes. Through
these words I hope to share with you many of my thoughts and concerns that
may or may not resonate with readers. As always, I will try to be direct.
My words are not that of a scholar, critic or crusader but of a performer
/ presenter / observer! I would like to hear from all of you who spend
so much time discussing on private phone lines and personal emails about
the chaos that plagues our dance today! The skies of cyberspace come in
a variety of wallpaper shades! And this space is democratic for all. To
those who say that dancers should not speak or write but only dance, I
cite the recent example of singing diva Barbra Streisand, who in a political
skit during her recent New York music concert shouted to a Bush supporter,
"Shut up and get out if you don't like it !"
FRIENDLY FIRE
begins with my experiences at the Chicago dance conference. Read on!
Anita Ratnam
November 5,
2006 |
