tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71863486739275964142024-02-08T12:18:26.497-08:00dance in the windCollections of articles, essays, observations, travelogues etc. written by me in the last 30 plus years of my staying in Odisha.
About...dance, odissi, chhau, paika, guruji, folklore, devadasi and many more.ileanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16593206734357855835noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7186348673927596414.post-57867873467155095852015-01-31T23:08:00.001-08:002015-02-11T05:49:39.536-08:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>The Rare Documents of
Jayantika</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The word ‘jayantika’ rings a
bell in the mind of each and every Odissi dancers, old or new, upcoming or
established, professional o amateur. All of us know that towards the end of the
50’s an association was formed among the guru, intellectuals, dance
researchers and practitioners with the
intent to systematize the practice and teaching of the Odissi style as it was
known till then. Repertoire and technique was discussed, dress code was decided
and fixed and guidelines were laid down for the future generation of Odissi
dancers. In few words if we are existing today and dancing away Odissi in the
four corners of the globe is largely thanks to Jayantika and the people who
took part in it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It is then surprising that in
the first two publications on Odissi dance, that is the Marg issue on Odissi curated by M. Khokar
in 1960 and the book by D. N. Patnaik published in 1971, Jayantika and its good intents and purposes
don’t find any place. In fact I should say that if I had to base my writing on
the few information about it found in
the existing literature on Odissi dance, I would not have much material besides
the generic data that all of us already have. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
A chance meeting a couple of
years ago, in a social function, with a lady, Vijayalaxmi Das, who introduced
herself as the elder daughter of guru Dayanidhi Das, prompted me to ask her if
she happened to have any documents from
her father time related to Jayantika. My question it seems sparked some
curiosity in her and made her go back and unearth from an old almirah a bunch
of hand written loose papers which were laying down since her father death and
to which until then she had not given any importance. The discovery and my enquiries made her aware
of the importance of those documents which contain detailed proceedings of all
the meetings of Jayantika which took place
from June 1958 onwards, mostly hand written by her father but also by Gora
Chand Misra (a journalist), guru Raghu Dutta and few others. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Although a teacher by profession, Vijayalaxmi is a trained
Hindusthani singer and she is at the head of the Dayanidhi Sruti Kala Parishad
in Cuttack which comes out every year
with an annual souvenir called Kala Srujani; in the last four issues of
the souvenir, she has published few of
these documents both in the original forms and in the transliterated one.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Mainly due to the busy schedule
of her teaching assignments, it took quite sometime for me to be able to meet
her and to get access and take vision of all the remaining papers and when
finally it happened I was totally taken aback by the amount of work documented
in it. My reviewing of the materials is certainly not over, it actually just
started, but I thought it would be
interesting to bring to light whatever discovered so far. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Aims and Motivations<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
From the introductory speech given by the president Biranchi Narayan
Routray ( a journalist who was working for the Prajatantra newspaper) during
the first meeting of the association (which was known at first as Nikhila
Utkala Nrutya Silpi Sangha) at 3 P.M. on the 22<sup>nd</sup> of June 1958 at
Banka Bazaar, we come to know that the need of the moment was to do research on
different aspects of classical and folk dances, to establish rules in the
teaching system which would assure uniformity in the execution of <i>bhangi</i> and <i>mudra</i>, to aim at a broader publicity for Odissi dance, and to
secure co-operation among the different guru-s and institutions. The agenda of
the meeting was: to discuss difference
of opinions among the practitioners, to know the difficulties encountered by
the teachers, to establish the required qualifications for becoming members and
to chose a name for the new association. At this regard the names proposed were
Chhanda o Kala by Mayadhar Rout, Sanja Akhada by Dev Prasad Das, Jayantika by
Biranchi Routray (because all the new births are celebrated as <i>jayanti-s</i>), Nada Nupura by Dayanidhi Das
and Nrutya Srusti by Gora Chand Misra. The governing body at this stage was
formed by Biranchi Routray as president ( he will remain president for about
one year until he got shifted to Rourkhela), Dayanidhi Das as general secretary
(he will retain this post all through), Dev Prasad Das as joint secretary and
Batakrishna Sena as treasurer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
From the proceedings of one
meeting held on the 27<sup>th</sup> of July 1958 we come to know that some
members who had participated in the previous meetings and had been given
traveling allowance by the association for coming to Cuttack from their
respective places, started to antagonize Jayantika pretending not to know about
it and declaring that they had participated only as spectators and not as active members. In the same proceedings it is
also specified that although the participation fee was of 1 Rs., Laxmipriya
(Kelucharan Mohapatra’s wife) gave 2 Rs., Gora Chand Misra 3 and Biranchi
Routray 5.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In spite of all the good
intentions of the founding members, it
took almost one year for the new association to consolidate and start
producing some results. By July 1959 the need to become more united and to
safeguard the purity of the style became more and more urgent. During a meeting
held on the 3<sup>rd</sup> of July 1959, Dev Babu refers to the case of a
certain Vinod Chopra who had approached him for learning Odissi in a couple of
days. In spite of all the pressure put on him and also the possibility to earn
good money, he refused. These and other similar episodes made the members more
and more convinced of the necessity of establishing a research wing for
research on Odissi and folk dances (it is interesting to notice the interest
and stress put each time on the study and research on the folk dances along
with Odissi which indicates that by that time the dichotomy between the two had
not reached the proportion that it has nowadays) under the banner of Jayantika,
to assign to each research scholar a particular topic and to ask to each of
them to present their report every fortnight to Jayantika . The deliberation at
this regard was taken in the meeting of the 11<sup>th</sup> of July (held in
the open space of Kala Vikash Kendra new building) during which it was also
decided to ask Orissa Sangeet Academi assistance for the project. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The next meeting held on the 19<sup>th</sup>
of July at Raghunathji Mandir in Telenga Bazaar, at 1 P.M., was going to be a
crucial one. The 9 members present, Dayanidhi Das, Raghunath Dutta, Mayadhar
Rout, Balaram Misra, Kartik Gosh, Batakrishna Sen, Kelucharan Mohapatra and
Chakradhar Kwanr, signed in blood and ink (the signatures are still visible at
the bottom of the paper) the following declaration: “In today meeting we
promise that we will abide to the decisions and course of action deliberated by
Jayantika and we will not allow any action which will negatively affect
Jayantika”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The repertoire<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Towards the end of July of the
same year an other cucial meeting took place. By this time Lokanath Misra (
publisher of Ganatantra) had taken the place of Biranchi Routary as president
and Dhiren Pattnaik had become vice-president (he will become the president
when, in the beginning of 1960 Lokanath Misra becomes Member of Parliament and
shifts to Delhi).The venue for the meeting had also changed to Lokanath Misra’s
office room in Dargha bazaar. In this meeting the course of an Odissi program
was discussed and the guru-s presented the following proposals: Kelu Babu
proposed 5 items (<i>bhumi pranam, batu, pallavi, abhinaya, pahapata</i>), Dev Babu 7 items
(<i>bhumi pranam, bandana, batu, ista deva
bandana, nartana, ragarupa</i>, <i>pallavi</i>),
Dayanidhi Das 5 items (<i>mangala charan,
batu, pallavi, abhinaya, ananda</i> <i>nrutya</i>),
Dhiren Patnaik 7 items (<i>jagarana, bandana,
pallavi, abhinaya, jhantari, batu,</i> <i>sabdam</i>). At the end they decided for; <i>mangala charan, batu, pallavi, abhinaya,</i>
<i>mokshya nata</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In the proceedings of a meeting
held on the 29<sup>th</sup> of August of the same year we find a detailed
description of <i>batu nritya</i>, passed
and signed by Batakrishna Sen, Dhayanidhi Das, Raghunath Dutta, Balaram Misra
and Dhirendanath Patnaik. The main points are: the item is dedicated to Shiva
in the form of Batukaishwara Bhairava, it should start by showing the musicians
playing the <i>veena</i>, flute, <i>mardala</i> and<i> manjira</i>, it should contain the <i>sthai
ukuta</i> (in one of his article Dhayanidhi Das declares that to chose the
opening <i>bols</i> for the <i>batu</i>
both he and Kelu Babu went to Shyam Sunder Singhari and it was he who suggested
the by now famous <i>ta kadataka dhi kadataka ta dhi kadataka jhe </i>) and a
variety of <i>khandi</i>, <i>arasa</i> and <i>muktai</i>, it should contain the following <i>bhangi</i> accompanied by movements of eyes and neck, <i>akunchana</i>, <i>nikunchana</i>, <i>darpana, biraja,
kari hasta, kati china, abhimana, parsua mardala</i>, it should strictly not
contain the <i>chakra bhramari</i>. The
declaration ends with the sentence that everybody should follow this pattern.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It is well known that Dev Babu
and Pankhaj Babu did not agree with this version of <i>batu</i> which came to be known as <i>Kelu
gharana</i>. It is interesting to read the version of <i>batu</i> described by Mohan Khokar in the article ‘Technique and Repertoire’
published in the Marg magazine in 1960. This <i>batu</i> which starts with ritualistic actions in honor of Shiva and
proceeds almost like a <i>varnam</i> alternating passages of <i>nritta</i> with passages of <i>sahitya</i> could very well be the version
which Dev Babu had in mind at that point of time, since also the rest of the
repertoire described by Khokar is very similar to the one proposed by Dev Babu
in the meeting of July 1959. It could also be the reason why the <i>batu</i>, which is an item of pure dance, is
often referred to as <i>batu</i> <i>nritya</i> instead of <i>batu nritta</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The meetings between July and
December 1959 were held almost daily as one can make out by the number of
proceedings maintained, many of which are reports of what had been taught that
particular day by each guru in the class at Kala Vikash Kendra. It is evident
that the get together were happening late at night after all the guru came back
from classes and tuitions. Many of these reports contain detailed description
of technical aspects such as <i>chari-s</i>,
<i>banghi-s</i>, <i>mudra-s</i> and <i>tala</i> patterns
with their proper names and way of execution (in one of these reports, signed
by Raghu Dutta, we find that among the teachings imparted to the first year
students, there where also six types of <i>bandha-s</i>,
something which nowadays has been totally discontinue). One wishes that the
Odissi Research Centre could have been able to have access to
these documents when in the 80’s it set about to re-write the theoretic
aspects of the dance; this would have been
a deserving tribute to the work
of these pioneers and would have added authenticity to the effort.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Programmes<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Most of the proceedings of the month of August 1959 are dealing with the organization of the
first official dance demonstration curated by Jayantika. Discussions delve
around content, dates and who will perform what. The date of the 14<sup>th</sup> of September
was finally decided after Chief Minister Hare Krishna Mahatab gave his consent
to be the Chief Guest (it is heartening to see how at this juncture people from
all walks of life, politicians, lawyers, writers, journalists, intellectuals,
were sincerely involved and active in the reconstruction of the Odissi dance, something that would be
unthinkable nowadays!). During the program, which was held at the Nari Seva
Sangh in Cuttack, Dev Babu gave demonstration of <i>bhangi</i> and <i>pada bheda</i>,
Mayadhar Rout of <i>hasta mudra</i> and
Jayanti Ghose and Sanjukta Misra (not yet Panigrahi at that point) danced for
about 25 min. presenting <i>mangala charan</i>,
<i>batu</i>, <i>basanta pallavi</i>, <i>odia</i> <i>abhinaya</i> and <i>mokshya</i> as separate items.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 28.35pt;">
One
should take note that by this time some important events had already
taken place in the history of Odissi dance; <span lang="EN-IN">in January
1958 Kelu Babu had accompanied Kalicharan Patnaik to <st1:city w:st="on">Madras</st1:city>
on the occasion of the All India Dance
Seminar held during the 31st Conference of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Music</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Academy</st1:placetype></st1:place><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">\</span>. On behalf of the Kala Vikash Kendra
Sanjukta danced <i>lalita labanga lata</i>
accompanied by Kelucharan on the <i>mardala</i>
and Balakrishna Das as vocalist while Kalicharan Patnaik read a paper on the historical and practical aspects of
Odissi. On the 5th of April of the same year, Jayanty Ghose and Dev Babu presented a demonstration in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">New Delhi</st1:city></st1:place> during the All
India Dance Seminar organised by the Sangeet Natak Academi at Bigyan Bhawan. On
this occasion too Kalicharan Patnaik read a paper on the classical aspects of
the dance and Jayanty danced <i>mangala
charana</i>, <i>batu</i>, <i>dekhiba para</i> <i>asare</i> and <i>mokshya </i>although
still presented as one single item of about 15 min. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 28.35pt;">
<span lang="EN-IN">Both these two programs were presented on behalf of Kala Vikash
Kendra (as was also the Odissi presented in March 1959 at the All India Dance Festival in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Calcutta</st1:city></st1:place> organised by
Nritya Bharati; where Kumkum Das and Krishnapriya Nanda danced a Radha-Krishna duet accompanied by
Kelucharan on the <i>mardala</i>). It is
known that the relationship between Jayantika and Kala Vikash Kendra, although
both were working towards the same goal and for more than one year the meetings
of the first were held in the premises of the second, were not too friendly, or
perhaps they became such once Babulal Doshi
started to fear that Jayantika would take away attention and credit from the
achievements of the Kendra, to the establishment of which he had dedicated his
entire life. Whatever it is, there is no doubt that both these institutions and
the people involved in it, have been vital
for the reconstruction and perpetuation of the Odissi dance.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 28.35pt;">
<span lang="EN-IN">An other important program organised on behalf of Jayantika, the
preparation for which started in December itself, was the one put up at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Cuttack</st1:city></st1:place> in June 1960.
While on 6<sup>th</sup> of October 1959 the program put up at Puri was involving
not only Odissi dance but also folk dance and classical music, the one planned
for June 1960 (the date for this was changed several times) was to be a
comparative demonstration between Odissi, Kathak and Bharat Natyam. From
December 1959 onwards, the meetings
devoted to the planning of this important demonstration, were attended not only
by the guru-s, but also by the dancers involved, Krishanapriya Nanda,
Priyambada Mohanty, Jayanti Ghose and Sanjukta Misra. On 30<sup>th</sup> of
June in the program ‘Comparative
study-Bharat Natyam, Kathak and Odissi’, Raghunath Dutta presented Kathak
dance, Mayadhar Rout danced the <i>ashtapadi
hari riha</i> <i>mugdha</i> in Bharat Natyam
style and in Odissi the following items were demonstrated: <i>mangala charan</i> in group by all the 4 dancers, <i>batu</i> by Jayanti and Krishnapriya, <i>pallavi</i> and <i>abhinaya</i> by
Sanjukta and Priyambada and <i>mokshya</i>
by all the 4 dancers. Accompanying at the <i>mardala</i>
was Dayanidhi Das instead of Kelu Babu (
he had not yet recovered from
tuberculosis by then. We know from the proceedings of a meeting held on
the 24<sup>th</sup> of May 1960 that a collection of Rs. 200 had been raised
among the members and donated to him for his therapy ).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 28.35pt;">
<span lang="EN-IN">A felicitation meeting in honour of Dev Babu, who had returned from
a successful tour to <st1:country-region w:st="on">Australia</st1:country-region>
and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Indonesia</st1:country-region></st1:place>
accompanying Indrani Rehman, was held on the 3rd of December 1959. The speech read
in his honour, highlights the great sense of pride felt by all the members at
the successful tour of the guru which helped in spreading the fame of the Odissi
dance outside <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>;
on the occasion the other accompanying musicians were also felicitated.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 28.35pt;">
<span lang="EN-IN">It is difficult to establish when exactly Jayantika ceased to exist.
There are proceedings dated until 1963/ beginning of ‘64. In a meeting dated 8<sup>th</sup>
August 1963, held at 2 P.M., the members present expressed their happiness at
the establishment of the Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalay at Bhubaneswar (which will
start the activity from April 1964) but at the same time passed a resolution to
invite the Sangeet Natak Academi (under which the Mahavidyalay was going to
function) to make sure that the syllabus and curriculum of the Odissi dance
course would follow the rules established by Jayantika.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 28.35pt;">
<span lang="EN-IN">Perhaps it was too much of a dream to think that a body of this kind
could maintain the control and dictate
rules on a discipline like dance
which relies so much on the individual talent
and creativity of its exponents. Disagreements and private assignments
surfaced perhaps too soon and did not allow
the initial intentions to get fulfilled.
Until today the Odissi masters don’t have a common guideline book to
follow while teaching the theoretic
aspects of the dance and have to rely on their individual knowledge and
interpretation of the classic texts. I am sure the documents left behind by the
Jayantika members, especially the ones concerning the technical aspects and
definitions, would be useful in this regard. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 28.35pt;">
<span lang="EN-IN">The proposed <st1:placename w:st="on">Odissi</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Museum</st1:placetype> which the Department of Culture intends to put
up in the precincts of the Odissi Research Centre at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Bhubaneswar</st1:city></st1:place> should definitely preserves these
original manuscripts as important
documents of the history of Odissi dance. Besides a publication should be
curated for the benefit of all the Odissi practitioners, by giving the duly recognition
to the Dhayanidhi Sruti Kala Parishad and to its founder, guru Dhayanidhi Das, one of the many self
made artists, dancers and musicians all rolled in one, who have dedicated their
entire life to the cause of Odissi dance, but have hardly received any recognition
so far. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
References<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
-Khokar M.,1960,‘Technique and repertoire’,Marg Publications,Vol.XIII
(2), Mumbai<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
-Patnaik D.N., 1985, ‘A History of Jayantika’, Jayantika Souvenir, <st1:city w:st="on">New Delhi</st1:city><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
-Patnaik D.N.,2001, ‘My work on Odissi in association with Guru Kelucharan
Mohapatra’, Pradakshina Souvenir, <st1:city w:st="on">New
Delhi</st1:city><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
-<st2:sn w:st="on">Citaristi</st2:sn> <st2:sn w:st="on">I.</st2:sn>,
2001, ‘The making of a Guru, Kelucharan Mohapatra, His Life and Times’,
Manohar, <st1:city w:st="on">New Delhi</st1:city><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
-Kaktihar A.,(undated) ‘Odissi Yatra, the Journey of Guru Mayadhar
Rout’, B.R.Rhythms, <st1:city w:st="on">New Delhi</st1:city><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
-‘Kala Srujani’, 2012,2013,2014, Dayanidhi Sruti Kala Parishad, <st1:city w:st="on">Cuttack</st1:city><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
(<b> Published in Nartanam, Vol. XIV, N. 4) </b> <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
ileanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16593206734357855835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7186348673927596414.post-50201239391186928392014-09-21T07:20:00.004-07:002014-09-21T07:20:58.829-07:00 Odissi and Chhau-a comparative study<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Odissi and Chhau-a comparative study<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(2014)</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Origins and history</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Odissi and Chhau dance (I will be
dealing in this article only with the Mayurbhanji variety of Chhau dance) are
two products of the rich cultural history of the state of Odisha; they
represent two important aspects of this history and are indicative of the two
major trends which characterize the region, the religious or bhakti component and
the martial one.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Although two branches of the same
tree, the two forms of dance had different and almost contrasting path of
development. While we can trace back the history of the Odissi form to the
<i>nartaki</i> depicted in the Rani Gumpha cave of Udayagiri
(200 B.C.) considered as the most
ancient dancing representation in stone , we don’t have much documents related
to the emergency of the Chhau dance before the 18<sup>th</sup> century A.D. On the other hand while Odissi had almost
disappeared by the beginning of the 20<sup>th</sup> century and it was only
after the Independence that the revival took place, the Chhau had reached its
climax by the beginning of the 20<sup>th</sup> century and lost its luster with the merger of the Mayurbhanji state in
1949, when having lost the patronage of
the Bhanji royal dynasty, it took some
time before the new Government came to its rescue.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Although we don’t have much
documents related to Chhau dance before the tenure of Maharaja Jadunath Bhanja
Deo (1822-1865 A.D.) we are never less
able to trace the development of the
martial trend in the history of
Odisha through the study of the <i>paiks</i> or infantry soldiers, their contribution
to the feudal structure of the region in terms of military service, valor and
prestige. From the <i>phari-khanda </i>(sword
play) and <i>rook-mar </i>(attack and
defense) exercise of the <i>paiks</i> to the full developed form of Chhau dance the path
has been one of continuous development and progression. The patronage of the
enlighten rulers of the Bhanji family have been determinant in bringing the
Chhau style to the highly refined level of codification and stylization
which characterizes the dance we see
nowadays. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
One important event in the course
of this development has been the impressive performance put up by the Chhau
dancers (called <i>paiks</i> by the local
press of that time) in January 1912 for the reception of Emperor George V at
Kolkata. The item known as ‘war dance’ had been directly supervised by Sri Ram
Chandra Bhanji Deo and was a display of all the movements belonging to the attack-defense technique
brilliantly choreographed by the ruler and performed by 64 well trained dancers
from Baripada. From this stage onwards the style kept on developing adding new themes and movements drawn
from folk and tribal dances of the
region until it reached a vast repertoire of new and creative items. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
While the Odissi style after an
almost virtual disappearance got a sudden revival and recognition at the
national level in the late 50’s and early 60’s and was able to attain the
status of ‘classical’ from the concerned authorities, the Chhau somehow, although gifted with all
the technical premises and with a well codified basic grammar, has not yet been able to get recognized in the classical
category. I have personally seen a lot
of refinement and improvement in terms of presentation of dance items and musical accompaniment in the course of the
last 30 years and I am quite sure this recognition is not far from coming. One
only hopes that the young generation of dancers who are nowadays practicing the
art form will continue to do it with the
same amount of dedication and commitment which the gurus and practitioners of
the earlier generation had shown. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Technical differences</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The basic steps (<i>thabaka</i> and <i>uphli</i>) ) of the Chhau style belong to the <i>desi</i> category of <i>akasiki chari</i> (Sangita Ratnakara) or aerial
steps whereas the Odissi ones are more akin to the <i>bhumi chari</i> or earthly steps. In
the <i>akasiki chari</i> the feet and
legs are moved at different levels above the ground before being placed down,
whereas in the <i>bhumi chari</i> the
raising of the feet from the ground level is much less. Since in Chhau the legs
are used to depict actions which in Odissi would be shown by the hands and arms
movements, the leg movements are bound
to be much wider and acrobatic than in other styles.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Some of the <i>akasiki</i> <i>chari</i> we find in
the Chhau style are:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
-<i>vidyubhranta</i>-throwing up the foot in front and moving it around
above the forehead quickly before placing it on the ground. This corresponds to
the <i>sintha</i>-<i>pada</i> in Chhau (putting vermillion spot on the forehead).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
-<i>purahksepa</i>-throwing up the <i>kunchita</i>
foot and stretching it forward quickly place it on the ground. This corresponds
to the <i>chhodadia </i>in Chhau ( spreading
the cowdung on the courtyard)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
-<i>harinapluta</i>- jumping up with the foot bent and letting it fall
repeatedly, In Chhau this is called <i>harina</i>
<i>dia</i> ( the jump of the deer)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
-<i>damari</i>- is the circular movement of the bent foot to the left and
to the right. This is similar to the <i>gobara</i>-<i>gala</i> of the Chhau (mixing cow dung and
water)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
-<i>janga</i> <i>varta</i>- where the
sole of the foot moving inwards is thrown at the back of the knee and the sole
of the foot moving outwards is thrown at his side. In Chhau this is called <i>anta</i> <i>muda</i>
(swinging of the hips)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
-<i>suchi</i>- after placing one foot by the side of the thigh it is
stretched pointing the end. In Chhau this is called <i>baga macho kujia</i> (the crane searching for fish in the pond)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Among the 108 <i>karanas</i> (co-ordination of movements of
hands and feet) described in the Natya Shastra the ones most used in Chhau are <i>vrscika</i>
( one of the leg is bent towards the back), <i>vishnukranta</i>
(one leg stretched in front) and <i>lalata
tilaka</i> ( put tilaka on the fore-head with the big toe). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The basic movement of the upper
torso (<i>dheu</i>-wave) in Chhau is in a frontal back direction whereas in
Odissi is in a sideways direction. The frontal back direction (<i>agrachala prusthi</i>) in Odissi is used
only in specific movements depicting water and peacock gaits.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Some similarities between the Odissi and Chhau
technique are the following:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
-<i>eka bhudha ghura</i> (single leg spin) is similar to the <i>ekapada bhramari</i> of Odissi </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
-<i>chalaka</i> (quick sideways movement of the feet) is called <i>chapaka</i> in Odissi, used very often in <i>abhinaya<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
- <i>thamaka</i> of the Chhau is called <i>sarana
chari</i> in Odissi, when one foot advances sideways and the other slides nearby
with a quick movement</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The two basic poses of <i>tri</i>-<i>bhanga</i>
and <i>chowka</i> are present in both the
styles but the Chhau <i>tri-bhanga</i>
called <i>dharana</i> has the feet at a
distance of 12” whereas in the Odissi one the distance is of 6”. The position
of the arms in Chhau (right one up suggesting holding of the sword and left one
thrown in front suggesting holding of the shield) and the more open position of
the chest transform the feminine and
graceful Odissi <i>tri-bhanga</i> into a
masculine and virile stance. The <i>chowka</i>
remains more or less same in both the styles except for the position of the
arms: the Odissi 90 degree sideways position of the hands in <i>pataka hasta</i> resemble the iconographic figure of
Jagannath, to whom this dance was offered as <i>seva</i>, whereas the upper and lower position of the Chhau arms
suggesting the holding of sword and shield establish the martial derivation of
the style.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It is interesting to observe how
the basic squatting position of the knee and triple deflection at the neck, waist and knee is present in
both the styles, as reflection of their
belonging to the same regional context and how from these two common
basic postures the two styles have developed in a opposite and complementary
directions, as reflection of their different purpose and finality.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I consider the two styles
complementary to each other in terms of energy, body language and aesthetic
quality. The elegance and lyrical quality of
Odissi infuse
elegance into the Chhau whereas the virility and lightness of the Chhau
infuse stability and control into the Odissi.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
From practicing the Chhau movements one can develop better
stamina, sense of balance and elasticity of muscles while from practicing the
Odissi one develops command over rhythm and control over the micro-movements of
hands, eyes and facial expressions.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
When the two styles are
compared, the Odissi
is often described as the <i>lasya</i> or feminine component and the Chhau as the <i>tandava</i>
or masculine one; this definition does not give justice to either of the
styles. Elements of <i>lasya</i> and <i>tandava</i> are present in both the styles, it is the energy-quality
which differs. While practicing both the styles one can really feel the different
way the body is energized by the two
forms of movements and realize the type
of complementary energy which in the process gets released. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
During the training period it
maybe difficult to keep the two styles
separated and some movements of one style may infiltrate and ‘pollute’ the
execution of the other, but once the two styles have been mastered, there is no
doubt that they enrich each other and
offer a vast spectrum of possibilities in terms of creative choreographies.</div>
</div>
ileanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16593206734357855835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7186348673927596414.post-87660766211494673932013-10-09T07:03:00.000-07:002013-10-09T07:03:14.754-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I would like to share few articles I wrote in 1983-1984. Those were the years of the first 'East-West dance encounters", discussions and seminars about tradition, need of changes, stagnation and innovation, and new directions in Indian dance were starting to emerge. Some of the questions put forwards in the articles may be obsolete now, but some maybe still relevant.</div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Odissi: a flower without the fragrance?<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">(</span><span lang="EN-GB"><strong><span style="font-size: small;">1983)<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><span style="font-size: small;"> I</span></o:p></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"> was talking to an old devadasi of the temple of Lord Jagannath in Puri. She told me that all the people who were now proclaiming to have been the ‘first’ just took of the Odissi dance what they saw, understood, experienced or absorbed and went away to sell it to the world. But<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that was like<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to pick up a flower and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>think to possess its fragrance too, or to copy the recipe of prasada in the temple; it would not have<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>taste of the original one. In this way, they may have taken away the outward structure of the dance but not the core. This belonged to the temple dancers and would die with the last of them.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"> We have come a long way since the time when Odissi dance was a matter of life-long training and dedication of a few girls, secluded from the rest of society and fully oriented towards giving pleasure to their Lord residing in the temple. The dance performances of today are totally intermingled with mundane values like ambition, competition, politics, money, showmanship, individual<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>prestige and so on.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"> But in whose hands does reside the art nowadays ? Each Guru teaches in a different way to maintain his own stamp and property-rights on the students; the students perform items which have been purchased as you would any kind of goods in the market. With the result that the present repertoire of Odissi lacks variety and originality. Leave aside the younger ones, even senior performers don’t know or at least don’t try to compose anything on their own.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"> In Delhi a dance critic once asked me why, instead of the round bindi with the white petals around it, I did not draw an oblong one while performing. That would suit my oval face better. I stared at her and said “ I do not know, this is what my Guru draw the first time I went on stage and it is supposed to be the right one.” Back in Orissa I brushed up my notes taken during my meetings with the old devadasi and I found that their bindi was not at all round: it was oblong like a drop, with a black spot at the bottom and a v shape supporting it all.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"> So from where did the round bindi with white petals come? If it was just a convention decided some years ago for the sake of uniformity, then why should I not change it according to my taste and wish?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"> And here we are at the crucial point of the famous guru-shishya relationship of which India is so proud. Faithfulness and complete submission to one own’s teacher; no right to decide if he is right or wrong; no complaints; no deviations. I admit that for sometime it was all right. Coming from the experience of the 1968 students’ revolutionary movement in Europe, with all the rebellion against rules, authority and boundaries, I could not believe that I had at last found someone to whom I could hand over all the responsibilities of my existence.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"> There were no alternatives: if I wanted to learn the dance I had to bend down to the rules. And this gave an alibi to that part of myself that was constantly searching for some substitute for parents in spite of all the revolutionary declarations of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> the</span> other part that was fighting for an independent identity.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"> But is this really in tune with the times? In this epoch of interchanging disciplines is there really any meaning in belonging to and depending on a single person as the sole repository of all knowledge?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"> Is there any sense in the way different Guru feud from the boundaries of their styles as if what they are dealing with was born with them and will die with them?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"> It seems that everybody has forgotten that once, at the dawning of the dance revival, they were all sitting together, putting together all the different experiences they had had, and confronting them with whatever had been handed down by the written tradition..</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"> So at that stage<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the discipline did not belong to any of them, they were just instruments, serving the cause of the transmission of the art, Maybe this phase lasted for too short a time and , before a real structure could be laid down, they were already competing with each other over who was the purer or the nearer to the original even though the ‘purest’ or the ‘original’ has never been determined or discovered.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"> And if it is now impossible to bring all of them together again because individual ambitions come in the way, would it not be proper to at least <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>codify the differences into well-defined and scientific gharana? So that the picture is not left only to the imagination of the poor student to be sorted out with all the attendant risk of incurring one or the other’s anger.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"> This will possibly put at the disposal of the dance practitioner a clear panel of variants, ortodox in style but at the same time open to different ways of utilisation. And it will give the dance style the possibility of growing into new combination instead of just repeating itself in closed and stagnant patterns, linked to the creative genius of a few isolated masters. For what will happen when these few Guru are not there any more?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wrote an article on Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra’s life; his training in dance and abhinaya included a twelve years stay with his master, learning the art of singing, playing drums,, stagecraft, make-up, literature on Krishna and Radha, besides the direct experience of performing in all the different roles of the repertoire. His childhood fantasies were full of the world of Radha-Krishna and the different leelas .He did not have or need not to have any further or broader education; this is what his world was made of.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"> On the other side the old devadasi was telling me that her childhood had not been like that of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>her other classmates. Back from school she was not supposed to mix freely with other children and go and play in the streets or along the river. She received at home, from her own mother, teachings about the Radha-Krishna cult, Oriya and Puranic literature, dance and its meaning.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"> Her food was always the prasad brought from the temple and her dresses, except for the occasion of seva in the temple, were humble and sober. In this atmosphere, totally engrossed in religious feelings, Jagannath<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was the only emotional and psychological landmark of her existence. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"> Nowadays Jagannath’s murti<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is on the stage, but the dance is done for the public. The same themes are conveyed but the situation is artificially recreated during the two hours of the performance and it dissolves in the background of the audience daily occupations and preoccupations.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"> Is this the ‘fragrance’ that is missed which according to the old devadasi will pass away<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>together with the last one of them?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"> The stories of Radha<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and Krishna talk of the universal feelings of love and separation. But if the stories have lost their metaphysical reality and are just themes within the reach of human psychology, they surely don’t need to be the only ones to be used in the dance compositions of today. This I say without trying to take away anything from the greatness of Jayadeva’s Geeta Govindam or any of the beautiful songs of the Vaishnava literature.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"> The question is: are we able today to render them with the same unquestionable faith and universal implications endowed upon them by their authors and reproduced in the lives and in the dance of the ‘servants of God’? Or are we just getting the flower and leaving out the fragrance?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /></div>
</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><st1:place w:st="on"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Krishna</span></b></st1:place><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB"> or Godot?<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;">(1984)<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span> </div>
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">During the evenings of the East-West Dance Encounter (<em>which took place from 22<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">nd</span></sup><span style="font-size: small;"> to 29</span><sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup><span style="font-size: small;"> January 1984 at National<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"><em>Center for Performing Arts, Mumbai, sponsored by NCPA and Max Mueller Bhawan</em>.)</span></span> on the stage the gap was striking; the Eastern dancer all dressed up, ornamented and protected, the Western one naked, exposed, vulnerable.. The latter with wide-open eyes expressed uncertainty, anguish, desperation in relation to the unknown; the former, with devoted and submissive eyes, expressed a longing for her beloved.</span></div>
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><st1:place w:st="on"><span lang="EN-GB"> Krishna</span></st1:place><span lang="EN-GB"> or Godot? Is the yellow-robbed one with the smiling face and inviting flute in his hands, the target? Or is the unshaped and indefinite aim of our existence to be evoked? In both cases, body, space, energy, directions, music were used. The emphasis was different. Here the face there the legs; here bright colours there black; here the beat there the off-beat; here the expected there the unexpected.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;">In both cases long years of training lay behind the conditioning of the body. The best among the Western dancers, for all their physical fitness, cannot move the neck, the torso or the fingers the way the Indian dancer does. The best among the Eastern dancers, for all their training, cannot raise the legs, keep balance or conceive a step out of the rules.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"> A conditioned medium for a conditioned human being! Many questions, doubts, proposals, emerged during the closed sessions; is the form or the content to be changed? Can a free dance exist in a traditionally settled society? Can the dancer keep out of social context? </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB"> </span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span><span lang="EN-GB">One of the first discussion I had with my Guru at the very beginning of my arrival in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>, I remember it was regarding my external appearance. At that time I used to let my hair remained uncombed. My dress was casual. My exterior reflected my inner mood. The freedom to choose whether to be an aesthetic object to be used by the male dominated world or a liberated woman was part of my cultural background and was reflected in my attitude and behaviour. My Guru’s arguments were completely different; there was no question of being or not being an object, of being or not being used, of accepting or not accepting the role. There was only one model to which the woman had to confirm and the dancer, as a woman interpreting the model closer than anybody else, had to adhere to it even more. Guruji had rejected more than one student whose style of life was not in accordance with this model. This was not applying to the local Oriya girls, whose life is still more or less according to the rules, but to women coming from more open and exposed context.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;">Faced with this contradiction, what should<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a woman do: change her life or change her dance? I changed my life. In my own experience at that stage it was more revolutionary to accept a tradition than to be against it. I had already been naked and exposed during the years of vagabondage, of experimentation and political struggle, during the year of rejecting and rebellion that have been part of my story as well as that of a full generation of young people in the West. The present choice is not imposed on me and I am ready to go beyond it as soon as become unrelated to whatever I project into it. If you have found yourself once you </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;">But what does the symbol of Sita mean to a woman who in life has to follow the example compelled by her surroundings and not by her own choice? And again what does it mean for a woman who rejects this model in her personal life but is still using it as a content of her artistic expression?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;">On the other side there is the complete abandon and freedom of the Western exponent. In the process of alienation from the old and the traditional everything has been discarded, the bad and the good, with the result that often the artistic expression has become too abstract, too technical or too extreme and abstruse, in one word, too “void”. True, it reflects the aridity of our modern life, but that should not be an excuse for not trying to convey through the artistic medium an emotional alternative.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"> At this point we could say that the broad categories of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘East’ and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘West’ are no more to be referred to because, as cultural contexts, both can lead to one or an other kind of conditioning of the individual and his expressional needs.. The focus should shift towards the artist as a human being, the genuineness and sincerity of his involvement and dedication, the trueness and coherence in his life and his work. Shiva is eternally dancing his cosmic dance; it is not Odissi or Bharatnatyam, it is not of the East or of the West. It is the universal dance of creation and destruction, life and death, that modern man can understand in terms of energy, atoms, particles, magnetism and matter. It is sometimes joyful, sometimes wrathful, sometimes water, sometimes fire, sometimes at peace, sometimes full of tension.. Can’t we be inspired by this example of dynamism and freedom instead of only trying to copy iconographically his postures and depict stories and anecdotes?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;">Is a universal dance beyond geography, languages, costumes, themes and denominations no more possible? I know it may sound as an ‘utopia’ but I just want to take a large breath in the stratosphere before coming back again to our atmospherical reality of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gurus, styles,, modern, traditional, concrete, abstract, religious, profane,. I am sure if we dancers, with different technical experiences but animated by the same honesty towards our search, could work together, a sort of rejuvenated and universal dance could emerge comprehending the old and the new, the East and the West, the discipline of the body and the freedom of the mind.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;">In the present reality of multinationals and intercommunication between states and disciplines, art in general and dance in particular, are still too linked to regional idioms and divided by geographical borders. The horizons should be opened and the cult of the ‘prima donna’ should be replaced by the cult of truth and essential.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"> This first East-West Dance Encounter should open the doors to more and more encounters among dancers where, more than shows and talks, there could be experiences of life and work together. </span></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;">Theatre workers have already taken several steps towards this getting together, sharing experiences<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>beyond any difference of style and tradition. Can’t we dancers too have regular International Dance Encounters, organised every time in different parts of the world, as a common platform of research and understanding?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"> The continuity between life and art<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which, in the past, has always been responsible for the formation of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>any artistic expression seems at present to be lost behind empty schemes and repetitive formulae.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;">A tribal man uses his art to talk with God, whom does the modern man address when he repeats the same gestures on a modern stage? And whom does he speak to <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>when he creates new gestures that nobody understands?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;">Both risks are there: from the East the same and mechanical repetition and deception, from the West, the abstruse and , at any cost, new or the empty displaying of technique and perfection. And, in the middle, is a common ground of the coming together<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of artists as human beings, open to each other and ready to give and to take not for the benefit of any bank account but for a kind of mutual, spiritual and human enrichment.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;">(Published in <strong>NCPA Quarterly Journal</strong>, June 1984, Mumbai)</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<span lang="EN-GB"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;">Is Tradition A Burden</span>?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: small;">(1984)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> Traditional<b> </b></span>values are like the double-faced God of the Latin mythology, Janus : on one side benevolent or enriching , and on the other evil or oppressing .</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> I grew up in an orthodox and traditional environment , where things of religion and life were given to me as granted and unquestionable . Later on, as I became conscientious , I began to realize that what I was asked to do was not exactly what I was feeling to do . And I started to disobey , to go against the rules , without knowing exactly why and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>what I was searching for. It was just that I could not<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>do otherwise . It took ten years <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from those early days <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>before I could pacify myself with another set of traditional values belonging to another culture in another part of the world.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: small;">So what <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>happened during those ten years that made me recognize<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the positive face of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>tradition and get rid of the oppressive one? What does it mean to have refused Christ and have found<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Krishna ? And how is it that after having gone through revolutionary movements against rules and authority I found myself so at easy <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>interpreting the submission of Radha. the tenderness of Sita or the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>devotion of Hanuman?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do not wish to deal here with the subject from an intellectual point of view but just give an answer that comes out of genuine experience.</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In life , as a woman who wanted to live as fully as possible any experience , free to choose and reject according to her own choice , it was rather the male more than the female components of my personality to come forward in many circumstances . </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Being <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>alone along the way, one has<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to struggle and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>defend oneself without being allowed to submit own responsibilities in anybody else's hands. In private , as<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in social relationships, the need to distinguish and impose oneself takes the upper hand on the need<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to be gentle and submissive.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> When now a days , through dance, I am able to identify myself with a feminine 'archetype' full of grace, tenderness, devotion and submission , it is because through these values<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can experience <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a part of my personality that probably up to this moment had not much chance to emerge. In the same way , I am equally ready to taste the excitement to be Kali , fire , demon ,or destruction. And again , I am able to enjoy <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>playing with Krishna , <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>dealing with his mischievous deeds and challenges because the experience is so different from the sense of oppression and guilt to which I was used while relating myself with the christian God.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Having gone through life, through all its heights and depths without fear of the risk and unknown , I am no more slave of values but free to relate to them as <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>personifications of my <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>total way of being. The content is mythological ,the form or medium is dance , a coordinated discipline of body and mind. It could have been poetry, literature, ritual , painting or any other medium of expression. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> The medium like the content has not been imposed but found at the end of a long and dedicated search. And as I found them , I am equally prepared to lose or to substitute these safe anchorages as soon as they would stop to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>give me back <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>what I project into them . If you have found yourself once you know that you can not<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>be lost any more, even in a period of darkness and temporary absence of land marks . When the moon is completely dark, the new one starts to grow, says the Chinese<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>philosophy . If you are open to this kind of dialectical approach , there is no question of old or new, traditional or modern: it is just a matter of being yourself.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But being in India , and particularly in Orissa , for almost 5 years , and living<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>side by side with girls and women who are learning like me the same artistic form<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>have at their back a completely different experience of life from mine and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a different attitude towards the art itself , I ask myself “Is tradition, for them , enriching or oppressive?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Or putting the question differently : what does the symbol of Sita mean for a woman , who has to follow this example in life, compelled by her surroundings and not by her own choice? And what does it mean for a woman who has rejected this model in her personal life<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but is still using it as a content for her artistic expression?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> For somebody</span> <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">, evidently , the myth still works. They don't find discrepancy in accepting the role assigned to them by the traditional social assets. They don't feel the urge to question . They are still happily living like puppets in somebody else's hands. But more and more girls, who are coming to learn dance, are nowadays getting exposed, outside the class, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to the contradictions of life , to the process of breaking<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of rules and values, to the hypocrisy and corruption which governs the society around.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> In this context, does the traditional training based on blind faith and silent execution help them to live their life in a conscious and responsible way?</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And does this sophisticated and untouched world of art reflect at all the needs and urges of the world outside?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>not here to suggest a pilgrimage to the West to anybody in crisis. I don't think the West has much content to offer. In fact we have been lucky to have had <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the possibility to come towards<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the East and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to find here alternative values . But from the East , where to go? I think what the West can teach is perhaps how to be honest towards one’s real quest, without arresting the search in front of any risk or compromise. When one has lost the way, he starts<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>searching for his own directions, he himself <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>becomes his own religion. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> "Leave everything behind and follow me” is no more a voice from outside but from inside . The call comes from the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>total 'Self’ and not only from the rational and conditioned<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>part of the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>psyche alone. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;">At the end or at a certain point of the process one may come across the old symbols again and find oneself acting as a docile Sita or a fighting Kali, but at this stage these characters will be integral elements of one’s own expanded personality and not only part of the mythology. Or one may find that this language is not at all meaningful for him and he may discover to be more at<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>easy with other kind of identifications, as a social worker or a political activist for example</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Classical dance, among all the artistic mediums, is maybe the one which has remained the more untouched as far as form and content are concerned. </span><span style="font-size: small;">That means that the dancers and performers of today are all equally conscious and aware of their choice, or simply they are just executing without questioning ? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a dancer who has found such a well of wealth in the tradition of this land I put these questions<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to another dancer , who may take things for granted losing in the process the very essence of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-size: small;">( </span></o:p><span style="font-size: small;">Published in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Indian and world arts and crafts</b>, 1984, New Delhi)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /></div>
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span><br /></div>
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br /></div>
ileanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16593206734357855835noreply@blogger.com0