Inside, outside
SANJAY KUMAR
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Jayachandran Palazhy leaves space for his audiences to interpret his shows.
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NO SLOTTING Choreographer Jayachandran Palazhy
`Each one of us has multiple layers of body as individuals. The body is connected to multiple points in space,' explains Jayachandran Palazhy, one of the remarkable contemporary Indian choreographers and artistic director for Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts, Bangalore, India.
Jayachandran believes that "in the Indian tradition of classical performing arts we had a personalised notion of the body." He adds, "The western tradition has a cartesian sense of it."
Born in 1959 in Kerala, Jayachandran Palazhy is trained extensively in different forms of dance. He received three years of training in Bharatanatyam from Kalamandalam Kshemavathy, five years advanced training with the Dhananjayans in Chennai, and studied Kathakali (part time) at Kalakshetra from 1985 to 1987. He also received lessons in Kalari martial arts and folk dances from different parts of India, Contemporary Dance, Ballet and Tai Chi and choreography at the London Contemporary Dance School from 1987 to 1989 and learnt Capoeira from the London School of Capoeira and African dance with different masters.
Synergy with the digital
With his wide repertoire of international collaborations, he has been striving for a synergy between digital technology and performance.
"When we put a lamp or torch on stage, we have already used technology," he reminds us. He also does not subscribe to the notions of a categorisation of dance forms as Indian or western. "I believe in the primacy of experience. Our work should reflect our memories, our experience," affirms this young choreographer. He has set up Attakalari, a Centre for Movement Arts in Bangalore where he says, "traditional physical wisdom meets innovation and technology."
He declares proudly, "We are the first in India to offer a unique diploma programme in Movement Arts and Mixed Media."
He has been a trendsetter on many other counts too. He worked with people from outside the realm of "performance" and used digital artists and computer programmes to create new spaces and redefine body movements.
"I wanted to reinvent visual language itself and give it a contemporary meaning. Ideally I wanted to look at the sources of my movements," confides this innovative performer about his intellectual challenges.
He has also directed the Attakkalari Bangalore Biennial, an international festival of dance and digital arts, Facets, an international biennial trans disciplinary choreography laboratory. He is currently directing Nagarika, a research project to document the principles of movement in Indian physical traditions. He is also the artistic director of Imlata Dance Company, London, and has choreographed its entire oeuvre to date. Jayachandran is an associate artist with Essex Dance with their new technology initiative and has worked as a choreographer, performer and teacher in many parts of the world.
Given his versatile performance potential in terms of training in a wide range of eastern and western performing and martial arts, Jayachandran stands out as a rare example of a performer who blurs the distinction between theory and performance. For instance, when quizzed about the use of digital art in his performance, he clarifies, "In telematic performance, there is a delay in transmitting images. This opens up new possibilities. Media performance is a different ballgame."
Jayachandran defies easy slotting. He is equally at ease in performing and theorising about it. Asked to define the enduring appeal of dance, he tersely puts it, "Dance is visual poetry. I leave a lot for my audience. They bring their world into it."
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