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Collage of dances

The World Dance Day celebrations at Alliance was a vibrant coming together of Indian dance forms from Kathak to Somana Kunita

A DECADE OF DANCE The event at Alliance coincided with the 10th anniversary of Stem Dance Kampni PHOTO: K. ANANTHAN

For a brief while, on Tuesday, I wished I were in Argentina. A man who introduced himself as David told me he was amazed that the fine arts was not a part of the school curriculum in India. "In our schools in Argentina we have theatre, dance and music. It is compulsory."

David was sitting in the front row of the Alliance Francaise auditorium, eagerly watching Indian dance forms that were part of a premature International Dance Day celebration organised to coincide with the 10th anniversary of Stem Dance Kampni. "Very een-teresting" was his wide-eyed comment at the end of 150 minutes of Somana Kunitha, Kathak, Odissi, Kuchipudi, Kathakali, mime, and contemporary Indian dances. "How long does it take to learn? Some years?"

The stars of the evening could have explained to him, much better than I could, the rigorous discipline and years of sadhana that natya demands of them. Latin American dances, he said, were sexual in nature, occasions for people of the opposite sex to make contact. There were, however, dances of a spiritual nature held during harvest season in countries such as Lima, Peru and Bolivia.

"But why," asked David, unable to get the big question out of his mind, "do you not have dance in schools? Does your Government have no funds?"

Geetha Narayanan's speech had clearly stirred his curiosity. Geetha, Director of Mallya Aditi International School, had spoken briefly but forcefully on the near-impossible task of taking fine arts to schools. It is not at the core of the education system but remains at the periphery, she said. Worse, it is brushed aside as an "extracurricular activity" or used in a lackadaisical "let's give the kids a bit of creative expression" kind of manner. When S.G. Vasudev and other artists approached local schools to volunteer to teach art, there were no takers, she said.

Connoisseurs

Geetha, who is also a trustee of the Natya Institute of Kathak and Choreography founded by Maya Rao, pointed out that all children who learn dance do not become dancers. They fill another, crucial role: that of the audience. If children don't know dance, how will we get audiences for our dance recitals in the future?

For Tuesday evening, at least, there was no problem finding an audience. The auditorium was packed. People first gathered in the foyer when the Lakshmi Venkatesha Kala Mandira of Ramanagaram kickstarted the evening with a lively Somana Kunitha. Little urban children stuck their fingers in their ears as the thunderous beat of the drummers echoed through the building. The two masked dancers performed awhile, then danced into the auditorium (accompanied by the drummers and a small band of cheering rasikas led by Alliance Director Eric Rousseau) and continued their performance on stage.

The "lived tradition" (as Geetha chose to describe what is disparagingly called "folk dance") made way for tradition imparted by formal training (what is admiringly called "classical dance"). After a Kathak recital by members of Stem, the company's founder Madhu Natraj-Heri recalled the genesis of the troupe 10 years ago at this very venue. The artistes pooled in Rs. 100 each and costumes were stitched at bargain prices with white poplin at Rs. 15 a metre dyed various colours.

Lack of funds has never deterred committed artistes, although dance critic Ashish Mohan Khokar did include funds among the four components needed to keep the dance tradition alive (the other three being aesthetics, historical validity, and education). "I've been given seven minutes to compress 2,000 years of history!" he joked, but instead of giving a historical lecture he spoke on how vital dance is to our lives, and how it helps us "wash the dirt, from our souls, of daily existence".

Healthy interaction

World Dance Day is also an occasion for dancers to come together, said Kuchipudi doyenne and dance therapist Vyjayanthi Kashi after her evocative recreation of devas and asuras churning the ocean for amruth and Vishnu intervening in his avatars as the turtle and Mohini. "Dancers must be part of the audience," she said. "By watching others maybe we can improve our own performance."

Although Indian mythology was the fulcrum of most dances that evening (including Vani Madhav's Odissi, Sanjay and Shama's Kuchipudi, and Prabal Gupta's Kathakali performances), enough space was given to contemporary Indian dance — a much-abused phrase, Madhu pointed out wryly. She described how aspirants in reality shows on TV would borrow one movement from jazz, one from Bharatanatya, one from folk, and announce: "Mein contemporary karti hoon." Stem (an acronym for space, time, energy, movement) produces work that is organic, a melding of influences clothed in an essentially Indian garb. "We use an expression that our bodies speak." Thus, when flamenco merged with Kathak in "Tarana", there was no disconnect since flamenco is, after all, taken from Kathak; they share gypsy roots. "Tarana", a work in progress, was in collaboration with K.K. Raghava, whose painting hung as a backdrop on stage. His canvas was a result of Stem artistes having danced on wet paint.

David, after having feasted his eyes on the spectrum of Indian dance, was naturally intrigued by the lack of Government support. He explained why his Government stressed fine arts in schools. "Young people can channelise their energies creatively," he said. "Culture is part of individual identity."

Si, senor, our artistes couldn't agree more. But try telling that to our Government.

C.K. MEENA

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