The New York Dance Performance Awards, affectionately known as the
Bessies, represent a recognition of dancers by their peers, judged as
they are by forty representatives of the dance world. In the award’s
thirty-year history, only one Indian dancer (2013 Shantala
Shivalingappa) has previously received the accolade. This makes a win at
the 2014 Bessies ceremony even more exceptional for UK-based dancers
Akram Khan and Aakash Odedra.
The name of Akram Khan will be familiar to anyone, even with a passing
interest in dance, so well is his reputation sealed as the outstanding
British Kathak and contemporary performer / choreographer. Currently
three of his shows tour simultaneously on the international circuit. The
creator of such seminal works as Zero Degrees and Desh,
collaborator with the likes of sculptor Anish Kapoor, ballet dancer
Sylvie Guillem and screen actor Juliette Binoche, Khan has enjoyed
unprecedented success.
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Indian dance is not just indoors any more but by the ocean and up in the
mountains and dales. Dance history is being made in small, odd spaces.
Metro India is saturated with festivals and fairs, tamashas and
tantrums. Quaint places and countries, colleges in nooks and crannies of
a bygone colonial setting, are now the new places for Indian dance.
It’s not Bombay or Boston, Chennai or China but Mauritius and Fiji where
Indian diaspora has come of age. Such countries have centuries of
history, not recent settlers. No wonder the PM is taking time off (one
day) to visit Fiji from Australia trip and the FM as in Foreign and not
Finance, is headed for Mauritius!
MGI sounds like some French fusion group and it is. Mauritius is half
French, half Indian. Mahatma Gandhi Institute is one of the top learning
centres created by India in Mauritius. Indira Gandhi inaugurated it in
1976! Successive Indian governments have added to its lustre and
enhanced its facilities. MGI is located in Moka, bang in the centre of
the country that is few hundred km long. Imagine, a whole country that
can be covered north to south, east to west in 2 hours of a beautiful
drive! Imagine, crystal clear aqua turquoise waters, green fields of
sugarcane and happy, sweet people who drive sensibly and live life
peacefully. This is closest to paradise. Dr. Putanjani Mungur Purgus,
Vandana to Indians, doctor of dance (Khairagarh University and Baroda)
and the current head of school of performing arts has read all past
issues of attendance, so she invites me as a Visiting Professor, to one
of Mauritius navratnas of academia, the MGI, for a two week
workshop/teaching of Indian Dance History, Aesthetics and Documentation.
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It was indeed with bated breath that I was looking forward to watching
‘Dance like a Man’ play at Meadowvale Theatre in Mississauga on 16th
October. For the simple reason that Bharatanatyam exponent Lata Pada was
to make her debut as an actor in this play directed by none else than
Mahesh Dattani, who was in Mississauga for more than three weeks
conducting rehearsals.
I was familiar with the story, having seen the play many years ago in
which Lillette Dubey plays the role of Ratna, the mother of young Lata
who she wants to push further as a classical dancer and even uses all
her tricks speaking sweetly with the Minister asking him to include her
daughter to be sent to Festival of India. Therefore it was interesting
to see how Lata Pada was enacting her role as a senior Bharatanatyam
dancer, who with her husband also a Bharatanatyam dancer, does not make a
successful career with a tragedy which strikes them, under the
excellent direction by Mahesh Dattani.
Jasmine Sawant and Shruti Shah, the artistic directors of the Sawitri
Theatre group which invited Mahesh Dattani to direct the play have this
to say in their statement: ‘The story of two Bharatanatyam dancers,
Ratna and Jairaj, their dreams, hopes and ambition, their sacrifices,
their love for the art form, and for each other; the eternal
inter-generational conflict, gender discrimination and patriarchal
manipulation; the jealousy and bitterness and imperfections of human
nature, the usefulness of diversity in the society, going beyond
tolerance to acceptance, compassion and respect. And in typical Dattani
style, the difficult questions- what constitutes a man? What constitutes
an artist? Can a prostitute be a dancer? Can one be a man and still
dance?’
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On 17th October 2014, I saw ‘Dance like a Man’ play by Mahesh Dattani at
Meadowvale Theatre at Mississauga. I visited Mississauga specially to
catch up with Lata Pada and her latest activities at her institute
Sampradaya Dance Creations. It was also planned to screen Sonya Fateh’s
documentary ‘I, Dance’ dwelling upon the present state of dance in
Pakistan.
I had assisted Sonya some four years ago when she was working on the
film. She had introduced herself on the phone as a film maker from
Pakistan and as a daughter-in-law of Geetha Rao, younger sister of Lata
Pada. The film deals with dance in Pakistan centring round Bharatanatyam
and Odissi dancer Sheema Kermani who is an activist and runs a theatre
group in Karachi. She has studied Bharatanatyam under Leela Samson and
Odissi under Guru Mayadhar Raut and Aloka Panicker.
The film made with a grant from India Foundation for the Arts,
Bangalore, Goethe Institute and other funding agencies, was after
completion, screened at Habitat in New Delhi two years ago. I had missed
it and had also lost touch with Sonya and her husband Rajiv who is a
co-producer of the film. During the 3rd International convention of Spic
Macay in June at Chennai, I met Sheema Kermani and came to know about
the film and its screening in Karachi. When I visited Bangalore, Geetha
Rao informed me that her son Rajiv and Sonya had moved to Toronto. Since
I was to visit Toronto, I planned to meet them and see the film which
was already screened for India Foundation for the Arts in Bangalore.
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Jhelum Paranjape is a leading dancer, teacher and choreographer of
Odissi. Her school Smitalay is the dance wing of Sane Guruji Arogya
Mandir, where Odissi is actively taught and performed. Jhelum’s
long-standing association with her guru and mentor Kelucharan Mohapatra
has blossomed into a beautiful and creative relationship with Odissi.
Noted for her originality in choreography, technique and stage design,
her versatility ranges from classical Odissi dance to experimental dance
movements. She reaches out to the audiences by creating new mediums for
expressing unique contemporary issues through her dance. Some of her
popular productions include ‘Leelavati’ showcasing mathematics through
dance, ‘Bollywood Hungama Odissi Ishtyle’ of Odissi dance choreographed
to old and new Hindi film songs from the 40’s to the present day,
‘Jalasri’ depicting conservation of water and nature, ‘Meghadoot’ based
on a Marathi translation of Kalidasa’s epic Meghadootam, ‘Savitri
Vadatey’ conveying the importance of women education. Her solo
productions include ‘Jani mhaney’ based on the abhangs of saint poet
Janabai and ‘Maeri’ portraying the bond of motherhood.
Smitalay completes 25 years on 17th October 2014. The start of a
yearlong celebration is a 5 day festival spread over 4 venues in Mumbai
featuring 6 of Smitalay’s productions. Jhelum talks about her dance
journey.
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The wood can dance and stone can express with the magic (maya) of Maya
Didi, as she was fondly called. If the one face of Dr. Maya Rao is art,
the other face is her benevolence. Maya Rao who passed away in the early
hours of 1st September 2014, left the dance circle in a vacuum, and an
unbearable loss for her students.
We rarely find such a guru who looks after her students with love,
affection and concern as a real didi, irrespective of if he/she is a
highly talented or an average student as well as people from all walks
of life. Even as a student at Maharani College, Maya Rao formed a
club and raised funds through cultural programs to help the needy
students. She never forgot to express her gratitude to those who helped
her. To make her productions more effective and meaningful she used to
consult experts in the field of dance and allied fields. She would share
the credits of success of a show with all. She used to be a like a
friend after the class and rehearsals. She was always positive in her
thoughts, wanting the performances to end with positive thoughts and
give positive message to the community. Her mantra was dance, music,
love and life.
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An education in Indian classical dance
The origin of Indian classical performing arts is attributed to
Natyaveda that has been written for educating and uplifting the society
through entertainment. Indian classical performing arts have their
underlying roots in Hindu philosophy and religion. The performing arts
encompasses human emotions and experiences in its works and through them
informs the society about truths of life, God and moral conduct to be
followed by man, while at the same time entertaining them.
An education in the Indian classical performing arts involves the study
of form and its technique, followed by practice. When students pursue
classical art forms, they imbibe philosophical, religious and spiritual
values i.e. awareness of one’s inner self and higher realities of life.
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