It's little unusual for him to watch a classical dance performance. He had watched few performances before as they were part of wider programs. However, watching an exclusive performance was a rarity and it was one of those days.
What is dance? He defined it for himself. A synchronized movement of body parts that gives either meaningful or meaningless postures in series with a visually pleasing equilibrium while maintaining the body balance.
The show started with men dancing. In fact two grown men and few young boys. Their attire was a throwback to the classical times when men covered only their loins. Certainly the dancers didn't give much confidence that the classical dance was a good exercise. He liked the way they flexed their ankles and made quicksteps. But apart from that he was all at sea about the context. That was the first and last dance show with all men. Women dominated the shows afterwards. It felt as if since the Kuchipudi was standardized and performed by men initially, they were given the first chance as a token of acknowledgment.
The next show was a witness of the times. With so many atrocities against women becoming commonplace, classical dance couldn't remain immune to it. So this show was a compendium of atrocities against women in myth and in reality. It had the abduction of Seetha, disrobing of Droupadi, abusive husband and female infanticide. He somehow felt, classical dance with their careful steps might not be a good medium to express deep sadness or exuberant happiness. Over the top background music also didn't help the cause much.
Then all of a sudden atmosphere changed. There was a swarm of young girls trying to balance themselves standing on an inverted copper vessel, with a smaller vessel on the head and lamps on the palms. The whole point appeared to be just balancing and nothing else. He felt his job was to watch who stood in that position for the shortest time and who the longest, who dropped what and how many different ways they lost their balance. His definition of dance appeared to have no meaning in this particular context as only the last part was true even though not for long with many girls. He felt, acrobatics had no meaning in a classical dance context. It was a completely different genre. He remembered the bottle dance from Fiddler on the Roof with their aesthetically pleasing movements and balancing acts. Maybe they should remove it completely as it had no meaning in the overall context, he thought.
The next act was a Yakshagana. He was all excited. There was something he could identify with. But his spirits were sunk when that turned out to be a dance drama or as they would call it 'classical' Yakshagana without any dialogues in difference to his 'semi-classical' Yakshagana with higher emphasis on dialogues. He remembered late Shivarama Karanta trying to turn semi-classical Yakshagana into classical one by removing the dialogues. He was happy that that experiment was a failure.
What is dance? He defined it for himself. A synchronized movement of body parts that gives either meaningful or meaningless postures in series with a visually pleasing equilibrium while maintaining the body balance.
The show started with men dancing. In fact two grown men and few young boys. Their attire was a throwback to the classical times when men covered only their loins. Certainly the dancers didn't give much confidence that the classical dance was a good exercise. He liked the way they flexed their ankles and made quicksteps. But apart from that he was all at sea about the context. That was the first and last dance show with all men. Women dominated the shows afterwards. It felt as if since the Kuchipudi was standardized and performed by men initially, they were given the first chance as a token of acknowledgment.
The next show was a witness of the times. With so many atrocities against women becoming commonplace, classical dance couldn't remain immune to it. So this show was a compendium of atrocities against women in myth and in reality. It had the abduction of Seetha, disrobing of Droupadi, abusive husband and female infanticide. He somehow felt, classical dance with their careful steps might not be a good medium to express deep sadness or exuberant happiness. Over the top background music also didn't help the cause much.
Then all of a sudden atmosphere changed. There was a swarm of young girls trying to balance themselves standing on an inverted copper vessel, with a smaller vessel on the head and lamps on the palms. The whole point appeared to be just balancing and nothing else. He felt his job was to watch who stood in that position for the shortest time and who the longest, who dropped what and how many different ways they lost their balance. His definition of dance appeared to have no meaning in this particular context as only the last part was true even though not for long with many girls. He felt, acrobatics had no meaning in a classical dance context. It was a completely different genre. He remembered the bottle dance from Fiddler on the Roof with their aesthetically pleasing movements and balancing acts. Maybe they should remove it completely as it had no meaning in the overall context, he thought.
The next act was a Yakshagana. He was all excited. There was something he could identify with. But his spirits were sunk when that turned out to be a dance drama or as they would call it 'classical' Yakshagana without any dialogues in difference to his 'semi-classical' Yakshagana with higher emphasis on dialogues. He remembered late Shivarama Karanta trying to turn semi-classical Yakshagana into classical one by removing the dialogues. He was happy that that experiment was a failure.
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