(Lecture delivered on 3rd September 1989 as the first Shanti Bardhan Memorial Lecture at Kala Parishad, Bhopal.)
To start with, this phenomenon of which I am going to talk about has so many names that I myself have got confused. I may mention here, very humbly, an instance from Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography 'The story of my experiments with Truth'. This was in South Africa where he was experimenting with his ideas on passive resistance. He had organized the local Indian population to fight for their rights and live with dignity. This campaign had gone for twelve years and yet this urge and idea did not get its name. After twelve years it was decided that the ideas practiced should have a name to make it easier for people to understand and thus, a competition was held to suggest a name. And that is how the word 'Satyagraha' was born.
What I am suggesting here is that there is no point in discussing that this phenomenon should be named Indian Ballet or Modern Indian Dance or Dance-Drama or Contemporary Dance. The fact is that this phenomenon has come to stay, and the emphasis should be on its serious practice. An appropriate name will come to it once its parameters are more clearly defined, and the art form gains more strength. It is true that in the 20th century, all over the world, in remote areas and very ancient civilizations, there has been a tremendous urge to find a language of body that can relate to the excitement and turmoil of the present. Whether it is the contemporary dance scene in the traditional societies of China, Japan, Indonesia or the industrial societies of USA, France and Germany or the growth of Folk Ensembles in communist countries, the urge has been the same. It is from this point of view that the Indian Ballet has to be assessed.
If we have to talk about the history of Indian Ballet in the last five decades, then we have to bear in mind that it grew in the context of Indian Nationalism, as part of Indian Renaissance. Initial stimulation came through contacts with the West and in the course of time, it achieved a unique character of its own. The entire second generation of choreographers of Indian Ballet never traveled to the west and dancers were working towards the birth of a new nation. The concept of Nation-State and Democracy was being introduced over a sub-continent divided by small principalities and monarchies. Naturally there were several art forms that emerged to strengthen this idea of nationhood. Themes and forms emerged which were universal in character, produced by the collective, appealing to audiences cutting across regional barriers and talking of a common cultural heritage. Along with Indian Ballet, Indian orchestral works, chorus singing, protest plays and poetry emerged. Strangely, after Independence all these forms that were in their infancy and needed financial and organizational support were sidetracked. This was partly due to the changed political scenario.
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