The 21st Natya Kala Conference - a report

This is a little late to be publishing a report on last year's Natya Kala conference, held during December 15-21, 2001, at the Krishna Gana Sabha in Chennai. However, this is such a thorough and detailed report that we think it is never too late! The report is by A Seshan, Economic Consultant in Mumbai, who was formerly Officer-in-Charge of the Department of Economic Analysis and Policy in the Reserve Bank of India. He is a music and dance enthusiast and writer, who attended and took copious notes on all days of the conference.

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December 20

Ashish Mohan Khokar gave a quick, but at the same time a comprehensive, run-through on "History of Choreography in Indian Dance". He was focused on giving a broad overview leaving out traditions of the solo performer, where the question remained as to whether the term "choreography" was applicable and, secondly, dance choreography in film. With the subject thus well defined and after dealing with attempts made abroad on choreographing themes with Indian flavour, he could trace the evolution in India from the time Anna Pavlova produced the first known indigenous ballet - The Hindu Wedding and Rhada (sic) and Krishna in 1922. The job of choreographing was left to Uday Shankar, then a student of painting. He later set up a dance company and travelled abroad, the first Indian dancer to do so, and on return established the Almora Studio. Unfortunately the full-length dance film Kalpana that he made was a box-office failure. However, it had a spin-off in that V. Shantaram, Nataraj-Shakuntala, Gopi Krishna, Dandayuthapani Pillai and Vazhuvoor Ramaiah Pillai took to dance choreography in films. In the sixties and the seventies, Kalakshetra and Kathak Kendra were choreographing dance-dramas using the traditional classical format. Earlier attempts in choreography aimed at reviving the classical Indian dance. The late sixties saw the emergence of the soloist in choreography as against the dance-drama format. The pioneer was Asha Utttara Coorlawala choreographing modern dance. There was continuity in efforts in this direction from Ranjabati Sircar and Daksha Sheth. The 1980s saw the slow emergence of demystifying traditions of classical dance. The year 1984 marked the East-West Encounters and the arrival of Chandralekhas and Kumudini Lakhias taking the movement to further heights. Astad Deboo could dance to Gregorian chants. Birju Maharaj could choreograph a kabaddi game using the Kathak format. Taking such individual sports like kabaddi and fitting them into the classical mould of dancing is the real test of a genius. The 1990s proved to be a flowering of this trend of modern dance under which even traditional dancers needed to depend on themes outside the conventional ones. Ashish noted that there had been no modern trend in Kathakali where it is always dance-drama. He concluded with a stimulating question as to where we are currently headed. Innovations, experimentation and, at times, senseless statements of no artistic depth mark the field now. There is also an element of "chor"e (stealing)ography where Indian artistes plagiarise each other when they are not aping the West. Attempts like setting Tchaikovsky's music to Bharatanatyam raised the question as to whether it was composed for dancing. To this writer this raised the parallel question whether it is appropriate to dance to the kritis of Tyagaraja. There is a powerful section of opinion which is against this practice. However, if the composition lends itself to being danced there is nothing wrong in doing so. Tyagaraja said in "Sogasuga" (Sriranjani) that the presence of navarasas is an important ingredient of a good kriti. Would it not then lend itself to dancing? The success of the lecture-demonstration of Ashish was to a large extent due to the excellent video presentation. It was a documentary he had prepared for Doordarshan and it came out very well.

The next speaker was Astad Deboo. He spoke at length on the special needs of choreography in dealing with handicapped persons. He had a project in Mumbai for teaching dance to the profoundly deaf. Wooden stage was necessary to convey the vibrations of footwork. Even a tapping on the floor can give a clue to the children to proceed to the next step. In organising the project he gave the leadership to children with slightly better hearing so that others could follow them. If the hearing handicapped go to a discotheque they pick up the vibrations and dance. An onlooker can never imagine that they are deaf. He was concentrating on his project to teach dance to the deaf. He regretted the absence of sponsorship for such artistic endeavours and the unseemly competition among organisations in the same field of rehabilitating the deaf. The MTV culture has taken over and the Mumbai scene is marked by film, food and fashion shows. The video presentation gave a sensitive portrayal of his efforts. Astad could very well be called the Ustad of modern Indian dance.

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