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Mathematical precision
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Rajeshwari Sainath's lec-dem on Bharatanatyam at the ISB campus was a methodical and aesthetic work of art
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Rajeswari Sainath helps ISB in converging art and culture with business management — Photo: A. Roy Chowdhury
THE SPRAWLING Indian School of Business (ISB) campus played host to art with a lec-dem on painting and, later, Bharatanatyam, and their relevance to the novel arena of corporate management. The Khemka auditorium was an ideal venue to stage demos for the Hyderabadi elite. Since business school gurus who don a binocular vision can magnify and infer each word and every move from a human resources management point of view, it doesn't come as a surprise that fine arts too, are interpreted as tools towards `sensitive' management tactics with tremendous market value! It may be canvas paintings and sculptures today, classical Indian dance and music tomorrow. The ground is already being laid. Derive the best of your ancient culture, market it across the globe and, in doing so, you could keep your heritage afloat, give an `Indian', and therefore ethnic, angle to it. It is not just physical goods and software that have to sell — age-old convictions, customs, conventions, and not to talk of concepts are all capable of acquiring a market value — it's the right approach that is wanting.
Classical dance, more specifically Bharatanatyam and its kinship, as a form of art, to business formed the core of ISB's extra-curriculum activity. Rajeswari Sainath, an exponent of the Pandanallur style of dance gave a brief outline of the obligation dance owed to society and vice-versa bringing in the business/industrial community as present and future patrons of art. In a nutshell, royal patronage of yesteryears has been replaced by institutional sponsorship today. If art has to thrive, financial sustenance and publicity are mandatory. Speaking on the physical relationship that Bharatanatyam footwork (called `Adavus') has with geometry, she demonstrated through a couple of hand and foot movements on right angle triangles, circles and so on which have a calculated speed and execution (`tala'/beats). Just as one faulty move in a math problem can goof up the answer, so too one miscalculated step in the footwork of a dancer can ruin the entire `jati' (a group of `adavus'). A number of micro units in the `tala' give rise to intricate patterns of mathematically worked out `jatis' (a combo of basic `adavus').
Dance can also be viewed as a distressing agent though it involves physical exertion. In a world of competition, says Rajeswari, stress has overtaken every walk of life. Viewing a dance programme, irrespective of deep appreciation, after a challenging day in the workplace is bound to produce a soothing effect on the taut nerves. Without realising, the viewer relaxes. For the dancer, the physical exercise is itself a stress-buster. There is a psychological sense of well-being and a sharpening of the mind in the entire process of dancing. No wonder, our ancient sires described dance and divinity as a mutually enhancing phenomenon.
"Dance is a cultural intellectual property and it is for the business houses of our country to take up the cause of a classical performing arts like dance," says the dancer.
The `Navarasa' is also a time immemorial concept of human frailties/behavioural patterns as against the equanimity of a divine in human form. The `Navarasa' actually embodies a gamut of emotions — negative and positive — and forms the crux of all thematic productions in dance.
A succinct `mangalam' with `diyas' looked an aesthetic wrap up of the entire show. Kudos to ISB for taking the lead in organising high-calibre presentations like these.
RANEE KUMAR
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