A question of weight
LEELA VENKATARAMAN
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There are dancers whose art transcends the physique, but excess weight does interfere with bodily agility.
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Agile and vintage: Septuagenarian artiste Kumkum Mohanty leading a workshop in Odissi dance at Sharon Lowen's Manasa - Art without Frontiers.
It has been said with some justification, that the over-sized dancer in Indian classical dance does not evoke the kind of waspish comments he or she would in the West, where Ballet is less accommodating of the fat dancer. We quote verses from the Natya Shastra or Abhinaya Darpana upholding comments made on the dance, but keep silent when it comes to a dancer whose girth negates the physical attributes prescribed for a dancer in the shastras. In fact, some performers would seem to sport those very qualities mentioned as disqualifications.
The seeming indifference to weight can be ascribed to several reasons. One is politeness and general unwillingness to insult senior dancers, who despite the added weight of years keep performing with the certainty that they have been with the dance too long for weight to be an issue, and that years of work bestow on them an artistic licence. Besides, the interpretative part of classical dance in its internalised depth deals with states of being at a metaphysical level, beyond the body. More importantly, there are dancers whose art transcends the persona and overblown physique. When watching the late Balasaraswati perform, one never thought of her figure.
However, one cannot be restrained when excess weight interferes with bodily agility. So it is with Odissi dancer Sujata Misra, who performed at the India International Centre.
This talented disciple of the late Guru Debaprasad Das in her Delhi debut during the Angahar festival in the `80s, the first ever pan-Indian stocktaking of Odissi after the advent of its new manifestation in the late `50s, was a revelation.
Expressional flair
Her mobile face retains its unusual flair for abhinaya as seen in `Maya' where Radha was pictured responding to Krishna the icon of "Madanakshya Mahabhava the highest of Madhurya Rasa". In the old Oriya songs "Bato Chhado Jamuna Jibi", wherein Radha going to fetch water from the Yamuna tries to restrain Krishna blocking her path, and "Radha Rani Sange Nache Muralipani", where Krishna and Radha on the swing share the joy of togetherness, the dancer's mukhabhinaya was very expressive.
Far more searing was the last segment based on excerpts from Ramakanth Rath's Sriradha "Toma aur nahi boli khabar asuchi" (I am getting reports of your passing away). Here Radha's love transcends the corporeal plane. After Krishna's death, when he is no longer anybody's son, lover, brother, husband, Radha rejoices in not having to share him. The vermilion in the parting of her hair glows a brighter red. Sujata has an incisive feel for abhinaya and with Ramahari's singing, `Maya' carried the message of unbroken supra-physical bonds after death suggestively. But the rest of the recital fell flat with the dancer immobile beyond small mincing steps. The bhangis of Odissi had to be imagined, and in Dashamahavidya conveying the power of the different manifestations of the Devi, greater agility was called for. If Sujata wants to be a performer still, she must look after her main instrument, the body.
Dance workshops
With the summer heat bringing down the shutters on hectic dance activity, this is a time for dance workshops for dancers to acquire know-how on the finer aspects of the dance. Arranged painstakingly by Manasa - Art without Frontiers, run by Odissi dancer Sharon Lowen, the 10-day workshop at the Habitat saw Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra's veteran disciple Kumkum Mohanty teach a manageable group of 13 Odissi dancers, abhinaya and a pallavi, the latter based on an old Bhubaneswar Misra composition choreographed by Kelucharan. Constant association with the guru for over 40 years has inculcated in Kumkum a feel for the subtleties of Odissi that few can equal. It is about optimum impact of a movement - the body balance and distribution of weight, incline of head and profile, delicate use of the torso (Kelucharan's speciality), keeping hips steady, jumping to land soundlessly or with an articulated foot contact, all giving the dance character. If the participants can ultimately master even half of what was taught, the workshop would have been fruitful. And watching Kumkum dance the guru's visualisation of an ancient traditional song on the rains "Mare Bano Dhara Sravano", one was struck by how every nuanced curve in the music found a danced response, and wondered how the music must have seeped into each pore of Guru Kelucharan, before this genius translated it into dance.
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