Every time my sister Nisha and I performed in France, we had far less time to practise than usual. The last two performances were easier - we practised long distance on Skype before meeting and practising. Before that, it was individual, separate efforts, followed by coordination once I reached France.I remember the time we performed at Aix-en-Provence. We practised, of course we did. But there's some amount of choreography that changes every time we perform. Even when we perform the same piece with another dancer, we do not perform it in exactly the same way. We keep the other performer in mind, if nothing else.For this particular performance, as a duet, there were several things that we did in a kind of mirror-formation. I did the right side, while she did the left. I never practised the left side; she never practised right.And then, somehow, we got disoriented on stage.We … [Read more...]
Talking to Children
In one of the places where I used to teach dance, children from various backgrounds often had trouble communicating with me. They spoke little or no English and sometimes, little or no Hindi, Tamil or Marathi. Problems occurred when they spoke just one language if that one was not one I understood.I remember one such girl. She spoke just Telugu, and perhaps because of her language difficulties, she was extremely diffident. She stood very still, watching and listening, never contributing to conversation. She listened to children asking for permission to go and drink water. Finally, mustering up her courage, she came up to me and asked, "Miss, mumblemumblemum water?"I smiled and granted permission. That was the first time she had spoken, so I merely said, "Yes."The next class, once again, "Miss, mumblemumblemum water?"Once again, I replied, "Yes."When she asked me the … [Read more...]
Surprise Farewell Party
A new life begins for me on the 1st of March. I'm going to stop all my hundreds of classes here and there and teach full-time in a school. Last evening, the girls from one of my classes gave me a surprise farewell party that was truly heart-warming. Thanks to their excited whispered planning, there was no element of surprise, but that took nothing away from the celebration."A party," the girls insisted, "must have cake and cold-drinks and chips." The mothers apparently tried to convince the girls that they were too close to dinnertime to have snacks like that, but the girls were adamant. A party is not a party without cake and cold drinks and chips. I tend to agree with that, at least with the cake and chips. Part I of the party was successful.I always tell the girls that beautiful dance is the best possible gift they can give me. They practised all afternoon yesterday and last … [Read more...]
Gulaal – a festival of expression
Day one of Indian Rhythm and Arts Association's Gulaal was wonderful. We went essentially for Alarmel Valli's performance, but were blown away by the second part of the evening - Nandita Das's Between the Lines.Valli, in keeping with the season, performed two pieces on spring and concluded with a Nritta Lahiri. The upper part of her body was magnificent. Her adherence to the symmetry of Bharatanatyam with the precision of each movement was fabulous, as far as her torso went. What I truly enjoyed was the subtlety of her expression. Many great dancers today seem to me to be moving away from the Natyadharmi towards the Lokadharmi, making a perfectly beautiful dance distasteful to me. Valli's portrayal of the ten rasas was beautifully done, with a gentle but distinguishable flow from one rasa to the next. Her shringara did not cross the limit (my idea of the limit) even once! Yet, her … [Read more...]
Experiences on Stage III
Performing in Chidambaram is an experience that any dancer would cherish. Mythologically, it is the place where Lord Shiva came and danced the Ananda Tandava, at the request of the sages. The golden temple of Chidambaram finds its way into many traditional songs, thanks to its splendour and history.When we danced there, one of the pieces we performed was, once again, the much-loved Draupadi Vastra Haran. As usual, I was Dusshasan; this time, my teacher was Shakuni. We were on stage, in the middle of the drama when the music suddenly skipped back. Dancers on stage must never show nervousness, we knew that. The problem was that we had no idea how far back the music had skipped.That's when the real drama began. Duryodhan turns to Dusshasan and asks in dance parlance, "Where are we? What part of the music is this?"Dusshasan calmly replies, "We have a lot of … [Read more...]
Getting into the mood
Before any performance, my dance teacher encourages us not to talk about anything unrelated to dance and the programme ahead of us. She asks us to be silent, thinking about what lies ahead of us, meditating in our own ways. In keeping with the idea, if ever we dance to recorded music, I try and play the music while we get ready. Make-up is a long and tedious process, and having the music in the background helps us settle into the mood of the performance. I also play the music in the car while getting to the venue, to avoid getting stressed about the traffic and the stares we get, dressed as we are in full costume.As usual, when a friend and I were to perform at Softbridge Solutions, Magarpatta City, we played the music during our long journey there. Entering the township, we were happily in the mood to perform together, having spoken of very little apart from the presentation and … [Read more...]
Experiences on Stage II
I remember the first time I performed with the Senior Girls - the Big Girls at Satara. We were doing a dance drama to recorded music. That's always a challenge because we can't let our emotions run free, expressing ourselves the way we want to and letting ourselves get carried away. We were performing Draupadi Vastraharan, and I was Dusshasan (a role now perpetually associated with me) for the first time. Draupadi, whom I was to drag on to stage, was far senior to me. We'd practised innumerable times, of course, and I knew that once I had mimed the pulling of her sari for a bit, the song changed to a heart-rending call to Krishna to save her.Somehow, things on stage worked differently. We got too involved with the story and lost track of time. Draupadi, thrown amidst the gamblers, had no time to plead with the spectators to save her; she had no time to build her emotions at all … [Read more...]
Dress Rehearsal?
Last evening was the first show of our cultural programme at Sanskriti. Everyone in charge treated it as a kind of exalted dress rehearsal. Everything was practised - giving gifts to the teachers, standing for a photo, everything. For them, it was just a complete, thorough rehearsal before Saturday.For me, though, yesterday was the real thing. My guru was there. And as always, no one's reaction is important except for hers. The whole world could be in raptures, but if she is not happy, the simple fact is that the programme was not successful.Guru Mythili Raghavan was not impressed, but she was pleased. She was proud of us - I could see that much. She was unhappy with the sound system, but the girls were, in her words, 'not bad'.I'm happy. For me, now, Saturday's show is a dress rehearsal. We can just turn time around a bit and pretend Saturday's performance came first. … [Read more...]
Performing tomorrow and on Saturday!
I teach dance at a school run by the Army Wives' Welfare Association (AWWA) - and they have their annual cultural programme tomorrow. Beginning with a Ganesh Vandana, there are several performances on the programme. My girls are going to be doing a Kannada folk dance and Swarajati (Raag Hamsanandi). I'll be concluding the programme with a thillana. The programme will be repeated on Saturday simply because the expected audience exceeds the capacity of the hall. Some parents will be asked to come tomorrow, and some on Saturday.It's a fairly standard programme, but for the first time, my guru is coming to watch! I'm going to be playing the nattuvangam too - and I'm trying to figure out what is making me most stressed - my guru watching my girls, my guru watching me dance, or my guru seeing how I play the nattuvangam!Hoping things go well, and as always, the only reaction that matters … [Read more...]
Experiences on Stage
I'm sure every performer could write a book about things that go wrong on stage. The most wonderful part about performing on stage is the fact that nothing is predictable. Even after practising for, say, a year, something is bound to go wrong.I remember when we performed the Ramayana on stage. Deeply inspired by performances we saw at Kalakshetra, we wanted to put up something grand, something that audiences in Pune don't see very often. My dance teacher choreographed a beautiful dance ballet in Kalakshetra-style - the Ramayana.A problem we face very often is that we have very few committed dancers, which means that each dancer often has to play more than one role. Changing took rather longer than planned, and Ravana was not ready in time for his grand entrance at the Sita swayamvara. Unwilling to leave the stage empty, we went on to stage to play for time.Then ensued the most … [Read more...]