Fast forward to 2013. A woman called Anita Ratnam and a man called Hari Krishnan curate and mount PURUSH to bring together disparate and desperate elements together. Disparate as the canvas is so vast and desperate because opportunities (for performance) are so few. Add to the polarity. There is the old Madras and a new Chennai; the old Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and a new hall in making. Old in the new Mylapore. There are the have-beens, the could-have-beens and the wannabes. Slimmest and fattest of so-called dance critics who are essentially dance PR folks. There are also those in the evening of their lives - spent forces, trying to hold on to the last light on stage - and be relevant or read. The university types drone on while the wise ones remain short and sweet. Self styled leaders of the dance industry (industry?) seeking space in front row rubbing shoulders with stars, while others muse from afar. This, then, is the palate. The place: Madras, oops, Chennai.
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An article on Male dancers by a person, who seems to understand male dancers, yet not able to comprehend the reality. The whole article wiggles and waggles between subjects. India is still a society which believes, all male should earn and dancing is not a way to support the family. In spite of this statement, many do go ahead and work their way up and mostky ending up as teachers. Rarely we see a combination of teachers and performers. Apart from this, most male dancers do not venture into male aspect (apart from the mythology); to go deep into the meaningful male oriented active dancing, as if there is no real problem for men. If there is any new dance is happening, it is still in a very low minority, and it is not attracting "male" audience, which otherwise gets attracted to female beauty. Audience may relish, when a male dancer comes out portrays his supremacy of dancing through male potent subject. Men should dance like men, they should tell stories of man and think out of the box to make male dancing more relevant to the society. I guess, critics like Mr. Mohan Khokar should sit and watch the performances Male dancers, whether those male dancers were good friends of these critics or not.
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