Why dancers shy away from group productions
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Bharatanatyam offers vast scope for mega-productions that can appeal to all classes of people. But why are there only few takers? Dancer V. P. DHANANJAYAN analyses.
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From `Ram'... a popular subject
ACCORDING TO all treatises of the Bharata Naatya sampradaya (Indian theatre traditions) and from the historical evidence available Naatya has been described as a group effort for educating the illiterate, to enlighten the literate and entertain the enlightened. `Drishya Kaavya' or visual media was an integral part of our system of education.
The divine theory of the origin of Naatya, enunciated in the Naatya Saastra, clearly states the concept, method and the purpose of this group activity. Human evolution also demonstrates group endeavours — bringing people together to educate, enlighten and entertain. Group presentations in any form of art or activity have a better impact on the human mind and have been common through the ages. They prevailed until modern man started becoming more and more individualistic.
Apart from this, economic conditions contributed to the fragmentation of theatre groups. When kings, landlords in a feudal society and temples maintained such groups of artistes, the artistes had no problem of training and keeping a high standard of performance. All the members in the group, including the lowest of the lot, imbibed a comprehensive knowledge of the art forms they kept alive. Their discipline, devotion and dedication elevated the presentation to a sublime level of spirituality. However, when royal and feudal patronage started dwindling due to various reasons of invasion, slavery under British rule etc., smaller and fragmented groups emerged, giving way to solo performances of classical dance and music concerts. So in the recent past we have seen Bharatanatyam emerging as a solo presentation, which also added to the individualistic nature of a performing artiste.
Solo Bharatanatyam performances are increasing in number and every dancer wants to shine individually. No one is interested in getting affiliated to a professional group. Solo performances, however, are enjoyed or preferred only by enlightened connoisseurs, whose number is decreasing. That is why there are fewer people for solo performances.
The calibre of the younger generation of solo performers also is not of the quality that can hold the sustained interest of the discerning audience. Another reason, of course, is that the supply is more than demand.
Performing groups
Moreover, the organisers of cultural shows prefer groups to individuals. But sometimes they are not able to distinguish between professional troupes and the amateur ones because many non-professional dancers also give group performances. The clear advantage there is that each performer brings in a couple of friends or relatives and that helps fill the hall, whether or not that audience is interested in Bharatanatyam. This kind of a crowd is drawn only by the colourful costumes and walks away after a few minutes. Many a time, these productions are shoddy and haphazardly presented, and go against the purpose of `naatya.' Among professional dancers, we call this kind of presentation `school anniversary' programmes.
``Krishna"... mythological themes have an enduring appeal
Unfortunately, some of our prestigious sabhas support these non-professional group productions and are not willing to shell out money to present professional groups. Sometimes, a few professional young dancers get together to form a dance troupe and they present innovative and novel ideas. But this endeavour is short lived because of their inability to meet the group's financial expenses.
Large-scale productions
Bharatanatyam offers vast scope for mega-productions that can appeal to all classes of people. But the organisations do not invest money in producing classical art events of high quality. Companies, government organisations and event-management enterprises spend large sums of money on rock concerts or fashion shows, but when it comes to productions of classical art these organisations are reluctant to invest. Even the sabhas, supposed to be promoters of the classical arts, do not take the trouble to understand the problems faced by artistes involved in group productions.
The actual process
To bring out a good classical art production, at least a year's labour is involved, if it has to be of professional standard. For instance, the choreography of a dance drama involves:
a. Research of ancient texts with the help of a scholar.
b. The choreographer has to sit with the scholar to choose the right kind of lines and edit the lyrics.
c. A good music composer has to be engaged to set the tunes, swaras, jatis and other musical embellishments. This takes a few months.
d. The vocalist has to learn the freshly composed music and teach it to the accompanying artistes.
e. The choice of dancers for the roles is important. The choreographer has the most difficult job of visualising the whole production and making it come alive with the dancers. Co-ordinating the moods and movements of dancers is a Herculean task.
f. Costume design — choice of materials, tailoring, and making suitable ornaments — is a bit tricky. Great attention has to be paid to the subject, period of story or the event being portrayed on stage.
g. In a classical production, set design has to be done carefully. It should be suggestive and effective and not distract attention from dance choreography. h. Lighting is another difficult and costly affair, involving a professional light designer. He should be trained during the rehearsal period, and cued about the special lighting effects.
9. Preparing publicity material, such as photographs, script writing, brochure design and printing etc. have become an integral part of a major production.
The production value is also determined by the kind of people who work backstage, before a dance drama is finally presented live on stage.
A dance-drama depicting Goddess Durga.
In spite of all the problems, if someone ventures to harness different talents and produces a mega show, where is the space for rehearsals? Hiring a big hall for every-day rehearsal for a few weeks costs a fortune.
It is unfortunate that artistes have to do their own administrative work, PR work, publicity work and door-to-door canvassing. Over and above this, to get an opportunity to dance on a sabha platform, they have to make umpteen visits to the house of a secretary or make several telephone calls.
The cry for crowd
Many artistes are not sure of gate collection so the entry has to be free.
Even this does not work nowadays because too many such shows are happening and the same persons are invited for all such programme.
The other side of the coin is that dancers themselves are not interested in watching other dancers perform and in attending good lecture demonstrations. The younger generation should not shy away from our culture, customs and tradition. The society should instil in children a sense of pride in our cultural identity and artistic heritage, through our education system. Our educational institutions should encourage only culture-oriented art activities. The government, private companies and other funding bodies should support only professionals who can produce classical cultural productions and they should not indulge in producing mega shows, which do not reflect the Indian ethos and culture.
The sabhas/cultural institutions themselves could produce mega events of classical dance and musical production by employing professional artistes and paying them well from the sponsorship they get from corporate bodies. It is easier for the institutions to convince the sponsors than for the artistes to approach these funding bodies themselves.
The public, for its part, should cultivate the habit of buying tickets for cultural shows.
The private sector companies which spend money on marketing events should also turn their attention towards the resurrection, preservation and propagation of our valuable heritage, the wealth of art that we have.
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