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My Gurus
and Tradition:
"My Gurus helped me realise that tradition,
in the right hands, has infinite capacity for
evolving and renewing itself all the time, but
at its own pace - naturally, gracefully and
inevitably. Today, while my style of dance has
the form and vocabulary of Bharatanatyam, it
is yet distinctly my own."
Creativity:
"A dancer’s life is a continuous
process of artistic evolution - of reflection,
of dynamic growth and change. We choreograph
new dances, we renew and rework old ones. Even
during performances we are continuously improvising.
When I first studied dance, I learnt the rules.
Over the years, with constant practice, I was
able to internalise them. At this stage, I found
I was making some rules of my own. But the final
step, is when you identify completely with the
dance. To borrow the words of YB.Yeats- 'O Body
swayed to music, O Brightening glance! How can
we know the Dancer from the Dance?!' ".
"When
innovation is motivated by the ‘What’s
new?’ syndrome, the result is often a
presentation which may be politically correct,
but artistically impoverished. I believe that
true growth and creativity comes from within
you. It has to do with being true to yourself
and your art. All meaningful change springs
from this integrity."
Pressure
to be ‘socially relevant’ in Bharatanatyam:
"I do not subscribe to the view that all
dance has perforce to be an overt social comment.
In fact, I tend to be rather skittish about
being politically correct for the sake of being
politically correct. I choose my themes because
they move me, or touch a chord in me - themes
that are universal. I believe that the urge
to dance can find expression in many, diverse
ways. Indian classical dance is a celebration
of the body, mind and ultimately of the spirit.
It can be a joyous, healing, uplifting experience,
both for the dancer and the audience. I feel
it is this ability to move and sometimes, even
change a person’s life, that is the acid
test of the timelessness and human relevance
of Bharatanatyam."
Choreography:
"When I was only 16, my Guru explained
the processes underlying his choreography to
me. It helped me perceive that Bharatanatyam
has the inherent capacity to assimilate innovation.
It is an expressive and evocative language that
I use to write my personal dance-poetry. The
songs and poems are but the outlines. When I
choreograph, I am both painter and poet. I add
the colours and tints to the outline to bring
it to life. I embroider my own dance poem around
the poem. I draw upon the rich and diverse store
of poetry, literature and music that is available
to us, and I also work with modern poets and
musicians to create new compositions."
"In Bharatanatyam,
the form is but the foundation on which the
creative dancer builds structures, both in time
and space, drawing from her individual experience
of music, movement and life. Every song or poem
therefore, is re-created by the dancer, becoming
her personal statement. Unlike a completed painting,
the dance grows and changes and is re-interpreted
with every presentation."
The
poetry of dance:
"In Bharatanatyam, where geometry is such
an important factor and the most easily recognisable
yardstick to evaluate, there is a risk of making
grammar and technique, ‘the be all and
end all’ of dance - of not seeing the
wood for the trees. But with this blinkered
approach, you can never savour the power, beauty
and poetry of movement."
Music
and Dance:
"The key to my intuitive understanding
of dance, is the close inter-relation between
movement and music. While studying music with
a singer as profound as Smt.T.Muktha, I discovered
an entirely new dimension to my art. Suddenly,
not only the words of the lyric, but every nuance,
pause, or trill in the music found expression
in corresponding movements of the head or body.
When I dance, I sing - with my body."
The
sensual and the spiritual:
"While
being deeply spiritual, Bhratanatyam is also
vibrant, joyous and sensuous. If you completely
divorce sensuality from dance and turn it into
something rarefied and inaccessible, it loses
its appeal, because it ceases to communicate.
I find it exhilarating, that this highly evolved,
grammatical, sophisticated dance form allows
you to be playful and adventurous like a child,
to feel the wonder of discovering everything
afresh. Dance, for me is sheer joy, at different
levels - from the sublimely spiritual to the
vibrantly physical, from the purely intellectual
to the intensely emotional. At its most intense
level, it is a joyous prayer with my very being."
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