2025
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At a baseline, good art should move you. At its peak, it can change you.
- Sophie Bress
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Must we wash away all the knowledge we have accumulated in the past to
make something new, or can we push the envelope to find new expressions
with knowledge from the past?
- Shen Wei (dancer, choreographer, filmmaker, and visual artist)
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"Don't create a dance as a thought, but as a feeling."
- Gabe De Guzman, choreographer and dance teacher
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"The artist must possess not only technical ability, but also an artistic soul."
- Enrico Cecchetti
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In the face of challenges, critics are adapting and innovating. The
crisis in criticism is not just about fewer jobs but about the
intellectual health of our culture. If we let art criticism become an
exclusive club for the well-connected and well-funded, we risk creating
an echo chamber that flatters power rather than interrogates it. The
alternative is to fight for a media landscape where thoughtful, fearless
criticism can thrive, where writers are supported materially as well as
intellectually and where the exchange of ideas remains as vital and
unruly as the art it seeks to illuminate.
('The death of the full-time critic and what it means for the future of Art Writing' by The Art Daddy, Observer, Aug 26, 2025)
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Politics separate us, languages separate us, but music is a universal language. Dance is a universal language.
- Abir Ward
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Dance is such a natural way of healing from the things that we experience in the outside world.
- Misty Copeland
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Dancers are complex movement artistes. They have to be
contortionists, martial artists, poets, storytellers and sculptors all
at once. They do not just bring an idea to life when they dance but
create life itself in each moment. From the slightest quiver of the lip
and the fleeting angle of the eye to the gentle tremble of a finger, all
come together to express a single nuanced expression.
- Surupa Sen
('The dance of the mind', The Hindu Friday Review, 20 June 2025)
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Dance can awaken empathy, inspire kindness, and spark a desire to heal rather than harm.
- Mikhail Baryshnikov
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Cells divide, DNA zips and unzips, our galaxy swirls and expands, our
planet rotates on an axis while orbiting the sun, giving us seasons -
that's all choreography.
- Dance artist Shoji Yamasaki
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When you start as a dancer, you think as a dancer the rest of your life.
- Damien Jalet, choreographer
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I deeply admire how the new generation of artistes is making traditional
art forms more relatable and accessible to modern audiences. Cities
like Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune are seeing a growing interest in
traditional dance and music, which is a positive sign for the future.
The key to sustaining this growth is consistency - if we continue to
focus on our dharma and karma - which, for us, is dance - there is no
limit to where we can go. We have already come a long way. No matter how
much people may drift or search for something new, they will always
seek to reconnect with their roots. And when they do, we will be here,
ready to share the richness of our tradition. The important thing is to
keep working, stay focused, and continue nurturing the arts, ensuring
they thrive for generations to come.
- Dr. Sandhya Purecha
('Dr. Sandhya Purecha: I am very positive about the future' - interview by Dr. M. Surya Prasad, Narthaki.com, March 19, 2025)
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Dance has taught me the value of discipline and the importance of
focusing on the process, not just the outcome. It's about learning and
growing every day.
- Dr. Ileana Citaristi
('An Italian's Indian 'Odissi': Dr Ileana Citaristi's remarkable
journey' by Vennapusala Ramya, The New Indian Express, Feb 11, 2025)
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"Things can get so heavy in life, but hearing a great song, seeing
someone dance, or even dancing yourself can turn your whole day, or
life, around."
- Primo (dancer)
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Composing for a dancer is extremely difficult as the music composer
needs to integrate principles of melody, harmony, and rhythm with
visuals of a dance that still remains unborn in the mind of the dancer.
Many times, dancers surrender to the music composers and accept whatever
is given to them. But I enjoy it more if it is a collaboration. I do
not like forcing any of my ideas on them. I have observed that whenever
the dancer comes with a clear vision, the music sits more nicely on the
dance.
- MS Sukhi
('Traditions intertwined' by Deepa Chakravarthy, The New Indian Express, Jan 23, 2025)
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"I'm clear about my choice in life, and it's to make dance and music,
because I believe those things make the world a better place."
- Hofesh Shechter
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