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Twin loves,dance and family
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Priyadarsini Govind took along her dance and family life together, enjoying both. She tells K. PRADEEP how she manages it.
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EXPERIENCE TEACHES slowly and at the cost of mistakes. This is exactly what noted dancer Priyadarsini Govind realised during that long, forced hiatus from the passion of her life. Like every young dancer, she started off dancing quite early in her life, practised hard, even though she was good. But only later, as she grew up, matured, slowly did away with some of those glaring mistakes, that people began to take note of her art. She was then growing out of that `promising stage,' through which every young dancer passes through.
Priyadarsini was hardly 20 when she took part in the Festival of India in Paris. It was her first international exposure. "I discovered the dancer in me in all its shades. It also made be decide that dancing was to be my life. Then came a break of 10 years, I got married, had children, but still kept dancing regularly. But these 10 years helped me a lot. I realised that like every young dancer that one simply cannot want something and expect that to happen. I was not mature enough to know what I wanted; I was just dancing, practising. These years helped me to understand the need to organise oneself."
To succeed in dance or for that matter in any of the arts there are certain norms to follow, certain unwritten lessons to be picked up in the journey to the top. "In dance there are no instructors. You have to cut your own path, set your own norms. I did all this during this break. There are so many young dancers, some of them of my time, who find the trek to the top tough. I have heard them crib about not getting programmes, need to run around meeting the right people. I could have fallen into this rut. Once I decided that dance was what I wanted to do everything else took a backseat. And once I decided to go professional, I had to find the way myself, the rules, set the boundaries, ethics. To find something you must be able to find the power within yourself. You must get beyond that period of inertia and start working towards a goal."
Marriage and a family have not in anyway dimmed Priyadarsini's passion for dance. "In fact, I'm much more happy, relaxed now. Of course, it involves making a lot of compromises. It is not at all easy, but obviously it is worth it. It definitely increases your experiences. There are moments when you tend to think that life would have been so easy if you had only dancing to think of. But then marriage, getting into another family, making adjustments, living with another person, learning to control your temper, having children, looking after them....you come to realise that life does not revolve around you alone. Now with both my children grown up I'm enjoying it more, laughing with them, handling their insecurities. Only with all this do you become more sensitive to your dance. The mind develops, sensitivity develops and abhinaya is the reflection of the experience of life. It is with all these responsibilities around that you realise how precious your dance is."
Despite all this Priyadarsini has managed to remain fighting fit, which is not easy. "I'm paranoid about my fitness, obsessive about my weight. To dance one has to remain physically fit. Dance is cruel, if you do not pay due attention, tend to have other preoccupations, you lose a lot by gaining a lot."
What makes this dancer so special is her complete grasp of abhinaya, which is intense; natural that can turn into a strong statement. To be able to master this aspect a dancer needs to be sensitive to music. "Basic knowledge of Carnatic music is essential, though it is not necessary that a dancer should be able to sing. When the singer introduces the gamakas and sangatis, a dancer must be able to interpret it in the course of the abhinaya. Music is important for dance and learning music helps the dancer to respond sensitively."
In these days of rampant experimentation bharatanatyam sometimes is performed to even non-Indian music. Priyadarsini has no qualms about dancers experimenting, for it is necessary for the development of any art form. "But personally I'm quite happy with the traditional form and music. There has been no need to explore beyond this so far. I have not used non-Indian music on stage, though I do use it for abhinaya demonstrations, where I do not use the `hasta' as in bharatanatyam, but only respond using the body."
There is a certain dignity when this dancer performs. It is a fine stage presence, which comes partly from that inner equanimity and partly from her choice of costumes. "No one is taught, formally, how to choose the right costumes. Basically is must be pleasing to the eye from start to finish. Remember that everyone comes not to watch the intricacies of bharatanatyam. For many it is a visual art form, which must be pleasing."
When Priyadarsini dances she negates the dancer completely and the audience sit riveted to the creative process on stage. But then is churning out something new every time on stage creativity? "It need not depend on something new. Making something different out of what has been performed many a time can be creativity. I don't think it depends on old and new, but the ability to convince the audience that this is the right way to do something. If I'm able to lift the audience to a new plane with my portrayal, of say Radha and Krishna, I feel that I have managed to create something."
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