Profile - The last film of Kumar Shahani - Ileana Citaristi

I got in touch with Kumar Shahani for the first time after seeing his maiden film Maya Darpan which ends with Chandralekha's choreographic sequences of Chhau dance performed by dancers clad in white, red and black performing on a red surface which keeps on appearing and disappearing projecting a carousel of powerful and fragmented messages. Chandralekha's fascination for the Chhau idiom and my connection with her during the East West Dance Encounters of the 80s had been one more reason for me to approach him.

From then, I started visiting him whenever I was in Mumbai and spent quite a lot of time sitting in the veranda of his Napean Sea Road apartment, listening to his fascinating and erudite talks on dance, music, films and politics. When from 1996 onwards I organised the Festival of Films of Performing and Visual Arts in Bhubaneswar I managed to show three of his equally iconic films Khayal Gatha, Bamboo Flute and Bhavantarana, all three powerful statements of his deep understanding of music and dance not only as aesthetic tools but as visuals impregnated with epic, philosophical and spiritual connotations as well. 

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Interview - Saroja Vaidyanathan's son on her philosophy, Part 2 - Shveta Arora

How Saroja ji responded to the fear and lockdowns during Covid-19

She didn't have any fear of living or dying. But she had the depression of no vibration. "I want some dancing," she would say. If you come to Natyalaya, what you experience - it's not one person or two people dancing, there is a very positive vibration. I feel that during Covid, she missed the ghungroos, the sound, that beating on the floor. It is a physical vibration, apart from the mental vibes. And then the kids being there, laughing, this and that. It's a mela with all these kids there.

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Interview - Saroja Vaidyanathan's son on her philosophy, Part 1 - Shveta Arora

On 21 September 2023, when Guru Saroja Vaidyanathan left this world to take her place in a higher one, the world of dance lost one of its leading lights. She was mourned not only by her disciples but by contemporaries and gurus in all dance and art forms; not only in Delhi, but all over the world; and not only by rasikas, but by people whose lives she had touched despite them having nothing to do with dance at all. She was universally loved and respected in Bharatanatyam and in life.

Many tributes of Guruji were written following her demise, which mentioned her 'conservative family', an early marriage and then the decades of awards and honours that recognized her undeniable prowess in Bharatanatyam. A Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardee, Guruji began learning Bharatanatyam at the age of seven from Guru Lalitha of Saraswati Gana Nilayam (putting her in the parampara of Guru Kattumannar Muthukumaran Pillai of Thanjavur). She also learnt Carnatic music under Prof. P. Sambamoorthy at Madras University. An indefatigable 'content creator' from before it was called 'content', she wrote four books, compiled an encyclopaedia on Bharatanatyam, produced a DVD about the basics of Bharatanatyam, and was a member of every conceivable body related to dance, including the Ministry of Culture and ICCR. Over her decades of teaching, not only in Delhi but in Bihar, where she first started classes, she has trained hundreds of dancers to their arangetrams and thus produced perhaps not only performers, but also teachers of dance. Her choreographies featured prominently in international and prestigious events like the Queen's Baton Relay (2009), the XIX Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony (2010), the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (2017) and many more. She broke a world record with a day-and-a-half-long Bharatanatyam marathon relay in 2017 and her choreographies on the Ganga, pollution, AIDS, yoga and other subjects have been much acclaimed. Of course, the Ganesa Natyalaya in Delhi, the result of decades of her work, is a physical testament to her forest she created, starting with herself as the single seed.

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Ekah! - Dance Matters: Column by Ashish Mohan Khokar

Ekah danta... runs the stuti on Ganesha.... But in dance finding qualified soloist of substance is not easy. It calls for minimum twenty years of work: Five years foundation, five in training, ten in performing experience professionally. So average is forty by the time one reaches national stage. By then either half have married or have families or no possibility to stay with the dance. 40-60 is the best run for a soloist, other things being equal.

The art of the soloist had steadily been on the decline, especially in Kathak. Bharatanatyam has enough volume so staying power is equal. Orissi is fifty-fifty. Group works is the vogue. It is so, as a teacher can show many students on stage at one go. The guru today is just a title, mostly. Solo training means focused attention. Teachers have assembly like training. Solo art is all but diminished. Reasons are many: first of all, gurus are not gurus but mostly art-teaching schools. More the number of students, more the earnings, outreach and social standing. This leads to a rather flimsy foundation. Gurus or teachers say parents are more ambitious and force them to fast-track and do debuts quickly so their ward arrives on the scene quickly! That helps visibility if not marriage market. Lastly, the students themselves. They change gurus like they change wardrobe or hair styles. Some are caught between wanting to be successful and stars while some think they are born stars. 5k followers on social media make them feel they have arrived. They don't have the staying power to learn to talk first before learning to dance first. Social media and self-reviews give most a fake sense of belief that they are good or worse, relevant. End result of above three: sub-standard end result, shows to empty halls and no real professional standing. No solos for sure.

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Anita says...February 2024

How can I begin this month’s musings without mentioning January 22nd and the inauguration of the Lord Rama temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. Nobody, anywhere in the world it seemed, could escape this extravagant show. My WhatsApp was flooded with texts and questions about “What is happening in India?” World media was full of India’s “dangerous tilt” towards autocracy. Diaspora Indians were seen celebrating in many cities across the planet. Opinions were sharply divided but the overwhelming majority made their feelings clear - from Ayodhya to Silicon Valley, on the streets of MALDIVES and onto the Times Square marquees in New York City. 

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