Dealing with exaggerated egos and frail talents of our grown -ups, I’m
forever joyous seeing and dealing with young dancers under 13 or 15!
They dance for joy, not mere show and they dance from within, not merely
on stage, for stardom. They smile, cry, emote innocently with
characters they portray, their own personality hardly coming in way of
the depiction.
Grown-ups can be self conscious, full of themselves and rather
predictable. I like the naivety, naturalness and neatness of young
talents who are just happy to dance, whatever the stage. In fact, 20th
anniversary issue of ATTENDANCE, I’m planning just on child talents of
Indian dance under 13. Or to be generous to more, under 18.
Of course, one pitfall is that often parents think their wards are maha
gifted and superstars already after one show. They also chase organizers
(pester is the word!) and bombard them with emails that "my daughter
danced here, there, everywhere, so why not at your festival or forum?" Swaraj is my birthright has an altogether new meaning.
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Navadisha 2016 dance conference was a unique event, the like of which
has not been organized in UK in recent times. The last Navadisha event
was organized by Piali Ray, Director of Sampad, in 2000. After an
interval of 15 years, once again thanks to the dynamic Anita Srivastava,
Director of New Dimension Arts Management and the producer of this
event with co-producer Piali Ray, and Chitra Sundaram, moderator, art
consultant and Bharatanatyam dancer, brain stormed for past two
years and worked out this mind boggling conference enlisting support of
many funding organizations and sponsors and various dance institutions
across UK. They invited dancers, scholars, organizers, academicians, not
only of Indian Diaspora but also as equal partners in the creative
industry of dance, the British organizers, British South Asian dancers,
choreographers, event managers and a host of UK based dancers.
From Canada, Lata Pada of Sampradaya, Hari Krishnan (dancer,
academician, InDance), Nova Bhattacharya (Bharatanatyam and contemporary
dancer, President of the Toronto Arts Council’s Board of Directors);
from Johannesburg in South Africa, Jayesperi Moopen (Bharatanatyam
dancer, artistic director of Tribangi Dance Theatre); from Singapore,
Aravinth Kumarasamy (creative and managing director of Apsara Arts);
from Dubai, Pali Chandra (Kathak dancer, director of Gurukul –Dubai);
from Kolkata Tanusree Shankar (contemporary dancer), Vikram Iyengar
(Kathak / contemporary dancer); from Chennai, Anita Ratnam (contemporary
dancer, writer, managing editor of e-portal Narthaki.com and director
of Arangham Trust); from Hyderabad, dancer/bureaucrat Ananda
Shankar Jayant; from Delhi, dance critic Sunil Kothari; from Mumbai,
Gauri Sharma Tripathi (Kathak dancer, also resident artist South Bank
Centre, London); and from Ahmedabad, Chirag Mehta (Producer, Ice Craft
Creations Pvt Ltd.).
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As an only child, from early years on, my mother was my whole universe.
While my adoring father was busy working for the Government of India, my
mother dedicated her entire existence to bringing me up. And what a
determined upbringing I had.
Despite her abundant love for me, that never deflected her from her
ambition for me. I had to excel in everything! Dance, music, sports and
academics. I was immersed in everything and pushed by her to excel.
There was no scope for any laxity in any. And never a choice if I
could do just one activity and not the others. So she micro-managed my
schedule and accompanied me everywhere.
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Spic Macay’s 4th International Convention (earlier termed the ‘National
Convention’ annually held since 1986) was held at Guwahati, the capital
of Assam, situated on the banks of the mighty Brahmaputra, attracting
thousands of pilgrims to haloed Kamakhya temple, one of the Indian
‘shaktipeethas.’ The choice of venue for the week-long event, IIT
Guwahati with its picturesque campus built round water bodies surrounded
by verdant shrubs and blossoming trees, with kindly weather gods
sending down intermittent showers keeping temperatures from rising to
uncomfortable levels, could hardly have been bettered. Battling doomsday
predictions with the slashed Central government funds for Spic Macay
activities, this event was by far one of the best organised and
attended, thanks to good Samaritans coming to the rescue along with the
phenomenal efforts of a clutch of committed
volunteers.
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(This article was featured in The New Indian Express dated May 14, 2016)
The Sangeet Natak Akademi, (SNA), the apex body for performing arts,
under the Ministry of Culture, also has as its mandate, the selection
and awarding of senior and young artistes across the fields of
dance, music and theatre in the annual national awards. This year’s SNA
awards, timed in with yearly March – April appraisals, across sectors.
As human beings, many of our goals for success and self actualization
are intrinsically linked with recognition, growth and awards. For a
sportsperson, a medal, a victory, or a ranking, defines achievement. For
bureaucrats, career advancement is determined by annual confidential
reports (ACR), which are enumerated and graded, a transparent evaluation
process, with an individual also being able to access the ACR’s, and
even appeal and seek correction or change in them.
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Usha Raghavan presented INIYA NINAIVUGAL (Sweet Memories) by her
students of Kalasagara UK, a Bharatanatyam celebration of their dance
performance tour of Sri Lanka, last summer. In London, they presented
dance compositions as performed in Sri Lanka, followed by a slide show
presentation of their experiences during the dance tour. The show
concluded with a thematic dance performance on the five major Shiva
temples in Sri Lanka known as ‘Panchalinkeswaram.’ Usha Raghavan shares
information about her production.
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