Chetna Jyotishi Beohar is a Kathak dancer, an aesthete, an administrator
of the arts and an avid scholar. Her new book Sastric Tradition
in Indian Classical Dances published by Agam Kala Prakashan, deserves
notice for all these reasons as well as the singular one
that she is well versed in both classical dance Kathak, as well as
Sanskrit.
Dance studies suffer from two factors—limited pedagogical knowledge of
the tools of research coupled with little or no proficiency in different
languages. The dance scholar who has knowledge, say of Kathak, as well
as of Persian and Urdu, besides Sanskrit, Hindi and English can
definitely contribute original insights into the impact of political
forces such as the changes in cultural history that accompanied the
advent of the Moguls in the medieval period. Chetna Beohar has research
and publication of many books on Kathak to her credit. Add to it
proficiency in Sanskrit and you have the right foundation for some
original insights.
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Indian classical dance has been equated to yoga. The practice of Indian
classical dances and other classical arts is said to be akin to
meditation. The spiritual, mental and physical discipline required for
complete harmony of mind and body is found in yoga philosophy. “Yoga is
adeptness or efficiency in any activity undertaken by the individual:
this is the karmasu kausalam of the Bhagavad Gita. Yoga is the
power of withdrawal of mental energy from all activity not directed
towards the single end in view; it is also perspicacity of vision which
enables one to see the underlying unity of everything”.[1]
Similarity in Yoga and Indian classical dance
During meditation, one concentrates on the chakras particularly agnya
chakra. The common factor in the practice of yoga and Bharatanatyam, is
the fact that both need to concentrate on the chakras (the
psycho-physical centers) of the body. The chakras together form “the
thought body of the trans-migratory soul.”[2] The chakras lie on the
central line of the body that demarcates the left and the right parts of
the body (bilateral symmetry).
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The Yoga of Indian Dance
authored by Mandakini Trivedi is a booklet primarily on the spiritual
aspect of Indian classical dance forms. The cover, done in linear
drawing, carries the picture of Shiva, the archetypal dancer.
Quite human in proportions, Shiva carries his damaru and fire in two hands while the other two display dance mudras.
The book is dedicated to her spiritual mentor, “Silent Master, the very
form of Shiva Dakshinamoorthy.” We move on to the next page to see the
profile of her guru superimposed on the figure of the artist in dance
costume, with a footnote, ‘The Inspiration.’ The pictures speak in
volumes. The words that flow in the following chapters are an
enunciation of the illustration.
The Yoga of Indian Dance explores the aesthetic, the symbolic and
the spiritual dimensions of classical dance forms of India. While the
aesthetic and the symbolic are fairly known both to the artists and to
the rasikas, the spiritual aspect that lends loftiness to art is
highlighted in the book. Under four headings the essence of classical
arts is distilled for the students and the lovers of art.
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Collaborations, that's what's trending. Collaborations between forms,
dancers, organizations, cities, universities, institutions.
February was fulsome, to say the least. TREND and TRENDING is learning!
Our universities are woefully inadequate with dance history and heritage
teaching as they have little or no evidence of historical materials in
possession, to illustrate dance heritage. Just talking about a subject
without visual or literary evidence is dull, especially in a visually
rich art form like dance. One exception to this trend is Pune
University’s Dance department. Last year, they had a seminar and focus
on dance writing and assessment and this February a two-day focus on
choreography under CREATING AWARENESS series. Pune University's Lalit
Kala (Music and Dance Dept), Maharashtra Cultural Centre and Nad Roop
made me address over 100 students of MA and PhD in what are trends in
choreography today and dance history. To meet and talk with over 100
enthusiastic and evolved Puneites was an eye-opener. Among the most
artistic lot in western India, Pune is to Hindustani music and theatre
and films, what Madras is to Carnatic music, Bharatanatyam and films. It
is a gardd (adda / epic-centre). With hours of rare film footage,
culled and collected from various sources, including making my own short
films from Mohan Khokar Dance Collection materials, I could bring alive
the various facets of our dance heritage and history. The students were
all grown up mostly and keen to learn and some had very good questions.
They asked about Natya Shastra and its relevance to modern dance (!);
they asked about where to practice in Mumbai (as though I owned Bombay!)
and they asked why such materials had not been ever seen before.
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Come Shivaratri, it’s a celebration time for many dancers. As dance and
devotion are intermingled with each other, so it is with dancers and
Shivaratri. Artists from all over the world head to different
temple venues to share their dance experience in front of their favorite
dancing deity Nataraja. Yes, when I mean artists from all over, I see,
read and hear of people from across the country fly down to be a part of
this dance festival, no matter where it is.
Natyanjali festival, which is very popular now, takes place at many
temples all over Tamilnadu. This festival attended by well known artists
and rasikas have brought in a new set of audiences in and around these
temple towns.
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In the olden days there were no performing Gurus. At least not in
Bharatanatyam. As early as the Silappadikaram, there are references to
male dancers. They were known by different names... like Koottan,
Chakkai Koottan etc. In those centuries, diverse dance forms existed and
each mode required different participants. Going by descriptions we
know that what we call folk forms today were part of the list of dances
prevalent. I don’t wish to go into Margi and Desi definitions. Each age
had its own attitude to dance and we today can only conjecture what
experts of those times thought about various modes. There seems to have
been no divisions like classical, and folk. The skill for each mode was
respected, recognized and honoured. This is my surmise after reading
many texts.
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