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 Boys Don't Dance! by Ganesh Vasudeva - Priya Das e-mail: priyafeatures@gmail.com December 20, 2022 There are those of us who worry about the history of Bharatanatyam - preserving the tradition, there are those of us who worry about its future - rallying its acceptance. Several of us practice it, many police it, more participate as audience and community. Most dancers identify with it; others can't fathom an identity without it. Some hold space for it; some gate it. Ganesh Vasudeva's Boys Don't Dance! brings all of this to bear; laying bare prejudices secret even to ourselves, shining a light into unexamined spaces by literally occupying them, while at the same time compelling us to cheer for him and the subject.  Ganesh Vasudeva Boys Don't Dance! turns the spotlight on the audience and society at large, a necessary mirror held to this moment in the history, identity, and culture of Bharatanatyam - in its propagation and consumption. Ganesh's brilliance is in how he takes the complex, strips it to its essence; then lovingly and simply adorns it in Bharatanatyam. High technical quality is a given in Ganesh's work; what requires reporting is how he has harnessed the narrative reach of the artform, to awaken our inner lenses. The story arc mimics the life arc of a male dancer, starting in youth, when love for dancing strikes. In Back to the Past, he shows how a performance is many times, the impetus to join a dance class, and through Training, how the class itself becomes a battleground of ridicule, self-doubt, shame, and judgment - by self and others, usually for a boy growing up in a certain time (maybe even now). A handful survive this but then must face continuing disappointment at home and on stage when the audience jeers; in the succeeding acts. More heartache is in store when the male dancer is held in contempt by peers, virtual and physical; as if no program has place and no friendship has space for a male dancer.  It is the lead piece that casts the production in brilliant light: Songwriter Sandhiya Kalyanasundaram asks, "Nataraja, you are the King of dance; why then am I not acceptable?" Ganesh's interrogatory outlook on the Lord in Bharatanatyam was masterful, using the full expanse of its vocabulary while extending its nuances. It sent the audience into waves of reflection with each line and movement- How is it that we revere a half-man-half-woman God while declaring a male dancer as irreverent? For example, Ananda thirunadanam kaana korikettavar ellam, Ennai pazhithu neeki odukki mechikolgirare (Those who long for one vision of the blissful dance; Take pride in condemning me, not including me, pushing me aside). Why indeed does society not see a boy dancing as an incarnation of Nataraja, as we do with girls and goddesses? Throughout, Ganesh deftly uses lighting and the halves of the stage to depict past vs. present, foreground vs. background, intent and consequence, metaphorical and actual. Music and vocals by Snigdha Venkatramani, and Ganesh's own jathis and sollukattu paved the path to our hearts. A special mention needs to be made to the large cast of nayikas - they lent the production continuity and power by portraying classmates, prima donnas, performers, peers. This is what gave the narrative a cinematic feel - multiple storylines were flawlessly executed by this strong ensemble made up of local dancers. Boys Don't Dance! shows art as an imitation of life, which while relentless also provides succor, in the form of steadfast support from a few as depicted in three subsequent acts. The lyrics were tough love, with Snigdha as the mother portraying the full spectrum of matru-dasha (state of motherhood) - sending your child off to battle with the knowledge that it will be bloody: Onde manadali ninage saakaaravaagiral, says songwriter KV Ramaprasad.  The finale is where Ganesh is masterful as a communicator and choreographer. In It Gets Better, he uses thattadavu to compel a compassionate rhythm of humanity, while urging future generations of boys to hold on to their dancing dreams. The staccato footfalls seemed to reverberate through the webs of rejection, rebirthing them into an expanding arc of inclusion as younger male dancers joined the lineup, one at a time, with the last barely out of his toddlerhood. These footfalls were a persistent call to future male dancers to own their potential; they also echoed our heartbeats as we watched, aware of the part we will have to own to welcome the Nataraja residing in boys who dance. Boys Don't Dance! was presented by Bharata Dance & Allied Arts in October in Palo Alto, California. The dancers were Ganesh Vasudeva, Snigdha Venkatramani, Nitya Narasimhan, Surya Ravi, Akila Rao, Aditya Iswara, Vidyuth Pasumarthi, Svara Deshmukh, Varna Srinivasan, Samyukta Chittoor, Maneesha Nair, Aditi Nair, Siva Senthil Kumar, Avya Poddatoori, Prasad Vaghela, Vatsal Dave, Pranav Vijay, Arohan Viswanathan.  Priya Das is a writer based in San Francisco Bay Area, USA, covering extraordinary nuances of everyday life with a focus on the performing arts. Her work is informed by a keen interest in the innovative intersections between art, culture, and society. Some of her writing is at priyafeatures.com |
