A guide to the Chennai December Season

December is here and this means the Season is about to begin! For two months (or more) the city of Chennai (Madras) will resonate to the sounds of Carnatic music and dancer’s ghungroos. For fans of Carnatic music and Indian classical dance, this is the place to be! I’m including below a short guide for those who are thinking of attending the Season for the first time.

Background:
Every winter, dance and music enthusiasts from all over the world flock to Chennai in Tamil Nadu, South India for its annual festival of music and dance. This is the biggest festival of South Indian music and dance in India – and the world. Over a 4-month period, over 2500 performances and concerts are staged by 75 sabhas (musical organisations). The festival also attracts music and dance lovers from all over India and the world, many of whom attend every year.

The festival started in December 1927 with the All-India Music Conference organised by the Indian National Congress Party. At this time, the prestigious Madras Music Academy was founded, and a music festival was subsequently held there every December. Since then, more and more sabhas have hosted their own festivals, in parallel to that of the Music Academy.

To perform during the December Season is considered a great privilege for artists. Here you can see all the big names in Carnatic music and dance, as well as young up-and-coming artists. Most of the concerts feature Carnatic vocalists, but also Carnatic flute, veena, violin and other ‘non-traditional’ instruments such as saxophone, mandolin, guitar and keyboard. Though most of the dance performances feature Bharatanatyam, other dance styles such as Mohiniattam, Kuchipudi, Kathak and Odissi are also showcased.

When:
Though it’s called the ‘December Season’, sabhas already start showcasing concerts and dance performances from November. The festival climaxes during the second half of December and then stretches through January and well into February.

Venues:
There are over 75 sabhas across the city with most concentrated in and around the neighbourhoods of Mylapore and T Nagar. Each stages it’s own festival which runs from a few weeks to over a month. As new sabhas are formed, the festival is slowly spreading to other parts of Chennai. Some of the most prestigious include The Music Academy, Narada Gana Sabha and Krishna Gana Sabha.

Highlights:

• The Music Academy Music Festival during the 2nd half of December presents day-long programmes of music featuring the biggest names in Carnatic music.
• The Natya Kala Conference at Krishna Gana Sabha from the 26th to the 31st of December brings together dance lovers, critics and academics for a week of lecture-demonstrations and discussions between artists and rasikas.
• The Kalakshetra Dance Festival during the 2nd half of December presents a select and eclectic programme of performances of classical dance and music.
• The Music Academy Dance Festival from the 3rd to the 9th of January is the most prestigious dance festival showcasing India’s leading dancers from all dance styles.
• The food! Food is an integral part of the Season. Pre- and post-concert discussions take place over plates of idlis and cups of filter coffee in the sabha canteens.

Tickets:
Tickets are available at the respective sabhas. Prices can vary from Rs. 50 to Rs.1000 depending on where you choose to sit. It is usually not necessary to reserve in advance, but for some of the most popular artists it is a good idea to queue up early or buy your ticket a day or two before. Some sabhas offer season passes which are a good idea if you plan to attend their programmes on a daily basis. Morning and afternoon performances are usually free.

Schedule:
The daily events page in The Hindu newspaper provides a comprehensive list of everything going on.

Kutcheribuzz publishes a handy guide to the Season featuring the performance schedules of all the major artists.

For on-line schedules visit the following websites:
www.chennaidecemberseason.com
http://artindia.net
www.kutcheribuzz.com

Accommodation:
Conveniently located only a few steps away from The Music Academy, the New Woodlands Hotel is a favourite among Season regulars as well as musicians from out of town.

For more accommodation options, see Kutcheribuzz.

This is an excerpt of an article published in the Autumn 2010 issue of Pulse magazine.

La Danse de l’Enchanteresse

Brigitte Chataignier’s evocative and atmospheric film, La Danse de l’Enchanteresse – co-produced with Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Kerala’s famed film director – is a visual ode to the classical dance from Kerala, Mohiniattam (which literally means ‘dance of the enchantress’). The absence of dialogue provides a hint of mystery and the brilliant imagery and exquisite music speak much louder than words.

Throughout the 75-minute film, we see different aspects of Mohiniattam revealed through a collection of scenes shot in scenic locations around Kerala. A peek through a doorway reveals a class in progress in a temple courtyard, dancers in resplendent white Kerala saris practice adavus under the watchful eye of their guru, seated in a circle with their teacher dance students learn a padam, dancers in costume apply eye makeup, there is a rehearsal with musicians, a recital in a temple. Interspersed with these dance images, we are also offered glimpses of life in Kerala: a young girl looking out over a lake lost in thought, a bus journey, a village temple, pouring rain. Several prominent Mohiniattam gurus and dancers are featured in the film.

For Brigitte Chataignier, the film is a testimony of a certain time which she wanted to capture and preserve. It is also a homage to her dance gurus and to Maharaja Swati Tirunal, the 19th century poet, composer and musician. His compositions are featured in the film and some scenes were shot in his palaces.

Brigitte Chataignier’s fascination with the Indian performing arts first brought her to India more than 20 years ago. In her native France she had studied contemporary dance, theatre, mime and yoga. She had the opportunity to study Mohiniattam at the famous Kerala Kalamandalam school with Kalamandalam Leelamma and then with Kalamandalam Kshemavathy. She has presented group and solo performances in India and abroad and also studied Carnatic music, Kathakali and Kalaripayattu. After living continuously in Kerala for six years she now divides her time between France and India. (Left: Brigitte Chataignier)

I had the chance to see La Danse de l’Enchanteresse in Bangalore during the 2009 Attakkalari India Biennial and spoke to Brigitte Chataignier about her film.

How did this film come about?

I had the idea to make this film for a long time. In the process, I interviewed teachers and older people and asked them not only about Mohiniattam, but also about the arts and life in Kerala.

I’m a big admirer of the work of Adoor Gopalakrishnan and I quickly realized that he was the only person who I could collaborate with on this project. What I appreciate about his work is his fabulous use of light. I approached him and told him about my idea. He didn’t agree at first. But slowly through the many discussions we had, an understanding and friendship developed between us and after some time he agreed to do the film.

We both agreed that we wanted to create a certain atmosphere in this film. We wanted to bring out the essence of Mohiniattam while also capturing a certain time period in India, a time which is quickly disappearing. We carefully thought out and planned each scene in detail and wrote the scenario together. We decided to have very little dialogue and an underlining ‘hint’ of a story. We didn’t want to tell too much. Throughout the film different aspects of Mohiniattam are revealed. There are glimpses of each item of the Mohiniattam repertoire. And interspersed with these are short ‘vignettes’ or glimpses of life in Kerala.

Who are the gurus and dancers featured in the film?

The teachers are Satiabhama, Sreedevi Rajan, Kalamandalam Kshemavathy and Kalamandalam Leelamma. I wanted to bring them all together in the film. I found that each had certain qualities and thought they could all be featured, like all the fingers in a hand. There are four main styles of Mohiniattam. Three are represented here. There are also glimpses into the relationship between teacher and student. Some of the dancers include Kalaratna Smitha Rajan, Dr Neena Prasad, and Pallavi Krishnan.

Tell me more about the underlying theme or story in the film.

The story is of a young dance student who is living a romance ‘in her head’: she’s thinking of the potential husband she’ll meet one day. She is a young girl with love on her mind. The theme is sringara, longing, separation. The same themes we find in padams. So there is a link between the poetry and lyrics of the padams featured in the film and the girl’s story.

How was the film received in France?

Very well. It received good reviews. The film is beautiful to watch, it’s also very contemplative, so it’s appreciated by art lovers and connoisseurs, and those who like India, dance, meditation, yoga.

It is not at all a commercial film so it was shown only at select cinemas which feature films on art and dance. It was also screened at several film festivals in Europe, Asia and in Brazil and won a prize in 2008 at the International Audiovisual Festival of Performing Arts in Lisbon, Portugal.

In India it has been shown in Trivandrum, the Habitat Centre in Delhi, Shantineketan, Calcutta and now Bangalore.

The locations used in the film are stunning. Where are they located?

Yes a lot of thought had gone into selecting locations. We see Maharaja Swati Tirunal’s palaces in Trivandrum and Padmanabhapuram, a small Shiva temple in a local village, the Kuthambalam theatre at the famous Kalamandalam school and Thiruvattar temple. We also see traditional Kerala houses with their courtyards and verandas.

These locations provide an echo of history. Time stops in the film. It captures a certain time, a memory of a certain time. It’s a testimony of something I felt and a homage to my teachers. The aim was not to illustrate the complete technique and every detail of the dance but rather the feeling of lasya in Mohiniattam and the atmosphere of Kerala, which I really love. This is what I wanted to preserve in this film.

Watch the trailer of La Danse de l’Enchanteresse:



A few more excerpts from the film:

Subodh Poddar: An artist inspired by dance

“The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web."— Picasso

The inspiration suddenly came to artist Subodh Poddar during a dance performance in Mumbai in December 1988. Four great dancers: Birju Maharaj, Kelucharan Mohapatra, Sanjukta Panigrahi and Sonal Mansingh were all taking to the stage on the same evening. “This was an electrifying experience and the first time I felt like drawing dance live,” Subodh says. Using a black pen and the bright red invitation card as his canvas, he attempted to capture the energy of the dance movements he was seeing on stage. Soon both sides of the card were covered with his sketches. He then borrowed his neighbour’s card and continued drawing.

This was the birth of Subodh’s project Dancescapes and from that day on, he has never attended a dance performance without his sketchbook and pen. Over the past twenty years he has had the opportunity to sketch many celebrated dancers including Birju Maharaj, Kelucharan Mohapatra, Sanjukta Panigrahi, Mrinalini Sarabhai, Malavika Sarukkai, Astad Deboo and Saswati Sen to name only a few. (Image right: Mallika Sarabhai)

While an art student at the JJ Institute of Applied Arts in Mumbai, he would diligently work on the twenty sketches he was required to produce every day during his long morning commute on Mumbai’s suburban trains. Using his pen and sketchbook, he would capture the scenes of everyday life he caught glimpses of through the train window. This is how he learned to capture these blurred, passing images, which he feels is not different to drawing fast-moving dance.

I met Subodh last year at the Dance Jathre organised by Kuchipudi dancer Vyjayanthi Kashi in Bangalore. He was there exhibiting his big, colourful acrylic paintings of Indian folk dancers. He showed me his vast portfolio of the ink sketches he has created over the years of many Indian classical and contemporary dancers. I was struck by the beauty of line and simplicity of these sketches. What most impressed me was that with just a few stokes of a brush he had managed to capture the essence of each dancer and each dance style.

Later in an email interview I asked him to tell me about his artistic process...

What inspired you to draw dance?

I love to capture human form. The endless forms that a dancer’s body makes inspire me to make rapid brush drawings on paper, fast one after the other. Dancers provide inspiration in multiple ways. I draw one sketch after the other continuously… my own challenge to myself is to make each one better than the previous one. During this process I study the dancer's body language and knowing that I have managed to capture the essentials of that dancer is an inspiration in itself. (Image left: Kuchipudi Student)

I started doing this as a release from my advertising work, thinking that one day I would transform all my sketches into paintings on canvas. But a dear elderly friend pointed out that my sketches are good enough and worth exhibiting and that very few artists are doing this kind of work… With this inspiration I have continued with Dancescapes for more than 20 years now.

Which is the medium you use and why?

I use pen on paper most of the time. I go to dance performances and sketch from my seat. I can’t carry large paper or an elaborate medium that would end up disturbing others. But when I visit a dance school or a workshop I carry my easel, paper and ink. There I use various kinds of brushes to suit the dancer’s body language.

I love the effect of Chinese ink on rice paper; but it is very difficult to manage the slow drying of ink. On canvas I have painted with both acrylic and oil. Brush and ink also creates a lovely effect on Indian silk.

Is there a dance form which you prefer to draw? How is each different to draw?

I like to draw western contemporary dancers because they only make forms with their bodies, unlike Indian classical dance which is mainly narrating stories. But I don't get many opportunities to sketch western dance. I find Indian dance two-dimensional while western compositions are mostly three-dimensional. The difference I think is perhaps because Indian dance forms are inspired by temple sculptures which are carved on temple walls so we don’t see their sides or their backs... Whereas Western sculptures stand on their own and can be seen from all angles. I get inspired more by the forms. But when it comes to painting I think Indian subjects are more colourful. I love basic colours and bold compositions. (Image right: Contemporary Dancer)

What are the challenges of capturing movement on paper or a canvas?

Art is composition. So the first challenge is to finish even before I’ve started, as my sketches happen in seconds. I have to be able to see the image before putting pen to paper. I have to eliminate unwanted details like costume and jewellery to be able to get to the essence of a dancer’s body. I work only in black so the elimination of colour is also a challenge.

I love to be challenged by an ever-changing body. I love to capture a movement in minimal lines – though I very often fail! I love to find my Birju Maharaj identified as Birju Maharaj and Mallika Sarabhai as Mallika. I don’t crop my drawings afterwards and I don’t sign the ones that are not perfect in all three parameters… composition, anatomy, and grammar of dance.

How do the two art forms inspire each other? Does this allow you to engage with the performer? How do dancers react to your work?

I get inspired by a dancer. And my work is completely spontaneous. I can't say the same thing for a dancer as their performance is completely choreographed. I’m not sure if my presence makes any difference to them... (Image left: Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra)

Mallika Sarabhai saw my work and said to her students: “Shouldn’t we get inspired by Subodh's work like he gets inspired by ours?” When I asked Mrinalini Sarabhai to autograph one of my sketches she wrote: All movement is life intensified. She was so right! Once I went backstage to take Birju Maharaj’s autograph. He carefully studied all my sketches and said: “I will sign all your sketches if you give me one." This is the best compliment I ever got! Kelucharan Mohapatra would always say: "I can also draw," and draw a dancer in the corner and then sign. My friend Antonella Usai, an Italian Bharatanatyam and contemporary dancer said: “From Subodh's drawings we get to see the movements that were created and also died on the stage.” I say: I follow Buddha. I live in that moment and capture the moment that goes past that very moment!

Parts of this interview were featured in an article published in the Summer 2010 issue of Pulse magazine.

To see more of Subodh Poddar's work, visit Dancescapes.

Watch the artist at work in this video:

Images courtesy of Subodh Poddar.

Mythili Prakash: Complete commitment to dance

Mythili Prakash is one of the fastest rising stars of Bharatanatyam today. She has toured internationally presenting her own original choreographic works and is a regular performer during the Chennai December Season. Her complete commitment to dance led her to take the big decision to move from her native Los Angeles to Chennai three years ago, and her career has taken off to new heights ever since. “Since I moved to Chennai in 2006 my experience has been surprising all the way,” she says. “This is really the place to be because there’s so much to be inspired by here, there’s so much going on, and so many resources. I feel I’m in the correct environment and am really happy with my decision. I had initially come to Chennai with the plan to stay for about five months and spend time here, practice, and see performances. But during this time, it hit me that I would be happiest doing this full-time and that to do full justice to my dance I would need to be doing it full-time. I had started a Masters in Fine Arts programme in the US after graduating in Mass Communications from the University of California, Berkeley, but being here is like doing a PhD in Bharata Natyam!”

Mythili was no stranger to Indian stages before her move to India. She had presented her first solo performance in Mumbai at the age of eight and then would regularly perform with her mother and guru Viji Prakash during annual visits to India. She feels that her recent performance during the prestigious Madras Music Academy Dance Festival was an important milestone in her career. “I had already performed at the Music Academy when I was awarded the MGR award in 2000 and an endowment in 2007, but I was excited and happy to be invited to be part of their dance festival this year because it means I am being acknowledged as an upcoming dancer and this is very encouraging.”

Though Mythili has left her native California and moved thousands of miles away to a country she has never lived in before, she seems to be right at home. “I feel completely at home here. My accent makes me blaringly American and it seems to get me attention and everyone has to comment on it, but I feel both American and Indian. In California I feel at home too. But there aren’t many people who are only focused on dance so I feel out of place over there and in that sense more at home here.”

What’s it like to be an American dancer of Indian origin making waves in the Indian dance scene, which can be unwelcoming to dancers they perceive as outsiders? Mythili’s experience has been a positive one: “At first, there was a bit of that NRI perception when I used to come and perform in India. But since I was a young dancer, it was a surprise and audiences seemed impressed and happy that the art form was being preserved so well outside of India. But there’s also a questioning of whether it’s fair for an outsider to come here and take opportunities from local dancers? But I, too, have been working on my dance for a long time and I think now that I have moved here, they respect and appreciate that and I don’t feel like I’m treated like an outsider. Senior dancers and peers have been really supportive. I also feel lucky to have such inspiring mentors like Malavika Sarukkai and Bragha Bessell. I do a lot of my own choreography, so it’s essential to have somebody to guide you and tell you what you’re doing right or wrong every step of the way.”

One of Mythili’s aims is to introduce Bharatanatyam to a wider audience, especially in the US where the dance form is little known outside of Indian cultural circles. Mythili had the opportunity to do just that by recently participating in ‘Superstars of Dance’, a television show produced by the American television network NBC. This televised international dance competition features different dance styles from eight countries. Mythili was proud to represent India by performing solo Bharata Natyam. “I was excited to be part of this project and I think it’s a great opportunity to showcase a dance form like Bharata Natyam on primetime television and try to get it in the mainstream. It was a challenge because I only had a minute and a half to perform. But it was a great experience and I was happy to present Bharata Natyam to such a wide audience.”

This is an excerpt of an article published in the Spring 2009 issue of Pulse magazine.

Visit Mythili Prakash’s website here.

(Photos courtesy of Mythili Prakash.)

Yoga benefits for dancers

Dance makes great demands on a dancer’s body, especially South Asian dance forms such as Bharata Natyam which is characterised by the araimandi or demi-plié position, and vigorous stamping of the feet, both of which place great strain on the knees, hips and lower back in particular. Traditionally, dance training in India has not included a warm-up routine. Dance classes would usually start with the practice of adavus without any prior stretching or warm-up. Performing alarippu at the beginning of a recital is said to warm up the body and prepare it for the more strenuous dances that would follow.

As a result of the demands of such a vigorous dance form, many dancers experience knee strain, backache, or problems with other parts of the body dance exerts pressure on, such as the shoulders, hips, and ankles. This is the ‘occupational hazard’ of pursuing a dance career! Such problems could be linked to incorrect alignment or bad posture. Other causes could be linked to the innumerable stresses faced by dancers today, including inappropriate flooring, long rehearsals and frequent performances, extended travel, and other factors of modern day stress, including living in a polluted environment, insufficient sleep, improper diet, etc.

Due to these factors, there is an increasing focus on dancers’ health and well-being in India today and more emphasis is being made by dance teachers and health practitioners on the importance of warming up before practice or a performance. Many dancers and teachers are increasingly incorporating a yoga or stretching regimen as part of their dance practice and teaching.

Chennai-based Bharata Natyam dancer Urmila Sathyanarayanan, known for her impeccable technique and deep araimandi, learned the hard way… While practicing one day she experienced a sharp pain in her left knee. The pain disappeared soon after but not completely, as it would come back from time to time, often enough to have her decide to consult specialists. (Image right: Urmila in araimandi)

An MRI Scan revealed a lateral meniscal tear in her left knee. (The meniscus is the piece of cartilage found between the femur and the tibia, which acts as a ‘shock absorber’ for the knee). When an Orthopaedic specialist recommended surgery to repair the damage to her knee, Urmila consulted an Ayurvedic doctor for an alternative opinion, who recommended a prolonged period of rest and yoga practice. After considering her options, Urmila decided not to take the drastic (and irreversible) step of undergoing surgery. She took the difficult but necessary decision to stop dancing for a period of six months in order to allow her knee to completely heal and recover.

During this period of rehabilitation, Urmila started an intensive practice of Iyengar yoga as part of the healing process. She sought guidance from Dr. Krishna Raman, a Chennai-based doctor and Iyengar yoga specialist popularly known as the ‘dancer’s doctor’, who is well-known for his integration of western medicine with yoga. With Dr. Raman’s guidance, Urmila was able to use yoga asanas to help heal her injured knee. After this six-month hiatus, Urmila returned to the stage and re-staked her place as one of India’s most sought after dancers today. (Image left: Dr Krishna Raman with Urmila)

As a result of this experience, Urmila has made yoga an integral part of her daily dance regimen and practice. Before a performance she can be found in her dressing room standing on one leg in vrkasana or sitting cross-legged in padmasana! Before each rehearsal or performance she spends at least an hour going through a meticulous series of yoga postures to limber up and prepare her body to dance.

Urmila has integrated yoga not only into her own dance practice, but also into her teaching. She believes that yoga, or some form of an exercise or stretching programme, should be inculcated and made part of the learning process. She has successfully integrated yoga as part of the curriculum at her dance school, Natya Sankalpaa in Chennai. “I include this right from the beginning in my dance classes,” she explains. “Classes start with a few warm-ups which include yoga asanas and only then do we start the main class. Also, separate yoga classes are also offered at my school by a yoga master twice a week.”

Urmila also teaches her students proper alignment and instructs them how to “stamp” their feet correctly so as not to put unnecessary strain on the hips and knees. She has also made changes to her dance studio, lining the floor with yoga mats to reduce shock on the knees. She encourages her students to practice yoga daily at home and has noticed a marked difference in those who do: “I encourage them to spend a little time every day on yoga because the difference it makes to their dance is very obvious, there’s a marked difference. I ask my students to spend at least half an hour a day on yoga, and an hour or an hour and a half on dance. Even if they could manage this three times a week, that would be excellent. As for my own practice, I spend an hour on stretching or yoga asanas, and two and a half hours on dance practice per day.”

Looking back, Urmila is grateful that despite the misfortune of her knee injury, it has led her to discover the benefits of a regular yoga practice. Her only regret is that she wasn’t able to integrate yoga into her daily dance practice earlier, before her injury, as a long-term preventive goal.

This article was published in the Autumn 2005 issue of Pulse magazine.

How to watch contemporary dance

When we’re confronted with an abstract work of art, be it a painting, a sculpture or a dance performance, we often don’t know what to think of it. We don’t understand it. So often we don’t like it. This is because we tend to like what we know.

When we’ve been conditioned to think or see things in a certain way, we find it a challenge to appreciate something we’re unfamiliar with. We feel we have to understand something in order to appreciate it. We tend to want to respond with our head rather than with our senses.

When we watch a classical dancer performing, we use a yardstick to measure the dancer’s technique, and another to appraise his or her skills in abhinaya, etc. But when watching contemporary dance, we have no yardstick – so we feel lost. We don’t know what to think, or how to evaluate what we’re seeing. (Image left: Kalpana Raghuraman in In Between Skin)

For this reason, the first step to appreciate contemporary dance is to have an open mind. Forget what you know. Don’t think. Feel. Ask yourself what you feel as you watch. Is it pleasant? Unpleasant? Do you feel excitement, boredom, disgust, amusement?

In contemporary dance there are often no expressions or abhinaya, no fancy costume or jewellery – this is because the dancer is simply an instrument for movement. It’s the movement that counts and not the dancer.

It’s also important to consider the context of contemporary dance. Contemporary dance developed as a rebellion against the hierarchy and restrictions of classical dance. It is often a means of exploration, a way for choreographers to make discoveries about movement, about themselves, about life. More importantly, it’s about them finding their own voice.

I recently spoke to two dancers who trained in Indian classical dance but are now exploring contemporary dance. I asked them why they have moved to this dance form. Kalpana Raghuraman told me: “I am de-conditioning my body to let it find it’s own voice. I want to see what comes from myself.” Jayachandran Palazhy, Artistic Director of Attakkalari said: “Bharata Natyam is not related to my time and what I want to say. It relates to mythology. I want to find my own language to express what’s important to me in the present day and time.” (Image right: Jayachandran Palazhy in Purushartha - by CD Chitrak)

To understand contemporary dance, it also helps to understand where the choreographer is coming from and what they want to say. Read up on the choreographer, get the programme notes, go speak to him or her after the show and ask questions.

Finally, don’t just see one performance of contemporary dance and then give up. “The more we watch, the more we learn.” This is also true of contemporary dance. After you’ve seen several performances by different choreographers you will develop a yard stick to assess the dance – even though you may not understand it!

This article was published on www.narthaki.com in September 2009 following a week-long dance writing workshop organised by Narthaki in Chennai in July 2009.

Photos courtesy of Kalpana Raghuraman and Attakkalari.

Watch Chronotopia by Attakkalari:

Leela Samson: A love for beauty, life and expression

Leela Samson, a former student of Kalakshetra who had the privilege of studying directly under Rukmini Devi, is one of India’s best-known Bharata Natyam dancers. She taught for some years at Kalakshetra and toured all over the world as a member of its dance troupe. She is also a respected teacher, choreographer and writer.

I had the opportunity to meet with her following her recent performance in London, England. We had arranged to meet the next morning at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan where she was conducting a month-long workshop with a group of young British dancers. As we arranged our chairs in a corner of the dance studio and I tested my recorder, she admitted that she never sleeps very much after a performance because of all the energy and excitement she feels after a show. She didn’t show any signs of fatigue, but seemed rather composed and cheerful. The traces of alta still fresh on her hands were the only remnants of her performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall the night before.

My first question to Leela was one she’s surely been asked thousands of time: “How did you start dancing?” She started by explaining that she didn’t plan on becoming a professional dancer. She believes that it was fate that made the decision for her. Her father, who was a naval officer, and her artistically-inclined mother who enjoyed playing the piano, had sent their sons to prestigious schools and encouraged them to play sports. They felt that their only daughter should have some kind of artistic education and so decided to send her to Kalakshetra in Madras. This was a long way from Pune where the family was living, but Kalakshetra was one of the only schools which offered a formal education and the serious study of classical dance, music or painting. Leela has fond memories of her days there and remembers being very happy in its ashram atmosphere. When asked why she chose to study dance and not music or painting, she replied that she doesn’t really know why, and that she actually planned to become a doctor! She told me how when she finished secondary school she wanted to register at the university to study medicine. She was asked by the nun at the registrations office why she was applying to study medicine when she had a first class diploma in dance from Kalakshetra. Leela replied that she had learnt dance, like someone learns a sport or a craft, but that she really wanted to become a surgeon. She was then sternly told that she should think seriously about what she wanted to do and to come back if she decided to study medicine. Leela explained that until then, becoming a professional dancer wasn’t something that she had really thought about, and that at the time she didn’t realise the value of a first-class diploma from Kalakshetra. She laughed and said it was like a dancer coming out of the Bolshoi and declaring that she wanted to become a surgeon! (Below: dance class at Kalakshetra by Isabel)

Although the Indian government has offered her land and asked her to start a dance institution in Delhi, Leela prefers to teach privately. She decided at the beginning of her career that she didn’t want her artistic time to be eaten up by all administrative matters running a school entails. She believes that all you need to create beautiful dancers is a small space, and feels she has proven this through all the professionals she has put into the field. She keeps her classes small and only takes a few children as students from when they’re six or seven years of age, and keeps them right through their schooling.

Born to a Christian mother and a Jewish father, Leela belongs to a minority practicing an art form which has become dominated by Brahmins. She feels that she has been kept at a distance by some traditionalists for this reason. Bharata Natyam is a devotional dance form but Leela believes that the dance doesn’t speak a religion, but a universal philosophy. For Leela, Bharata Natyam has become a universal language which is being universally performed by people of all races and religions. “The constant search for something, be it a goal, beauty or happiness, a search for truth or love or the beloved is what the dance and art is about. It comes from the same impulse: looking for something beyond oneself, which is common to every human being.”

Though Leela received very traditional training at Kalakshetra, she has not hesitated to experiment with contemporary themes. She has been doing contemporary work with a group she has formed of young dancers. When I asked her to describe how she sees her evolution as a dancer, she explained that although she is considered to be a very traditional dancer, she has been able to use tradition to say new things in a modern context. For her, Bharata Natyam is a traditional art form which has the language and capacity to speak a modern language. She doesn’t see modernity and tradition as being in two different worlds and perceives things not in terms of past-present, but rather present-continuous: “For me, the fact that I’m dancing as a person of this time, if I’m dancing a traditional art form, for me that art form then becomes contemporary.”

We had been speaking for some time and Leela’s students had already arrived and were busy chatting and doing warm-ups at the other end of the room. I had time for one last question: “What’s the most important thing you would like to communicate through dance?” Leela was momentarily pensive before reflecting that many things get communicated through dance and that each person in the audience picks up on different things according to his or her sensibilities. “But I would say love for beauty, love for life, love for expression. People tell me I’m very philosophical! As a person I am. So maybe it comes out in my dance, I don’t know. I can’t tell. I haven’t seen myself dance!”

This article was published in the Spring 2004 issue of Kala Arts Quarterly.

Photo of Leela Samson by P. Ravindran courtesy The Hindu.

Since this interview, Leela Samson went on to become Director of Kalakshetra in 2005. Rukmini Devi – A Life, her biography of her guru and the founder of Kalakshetra, was published at the beginning of 2010. She was recently appointed chairperson of the Sangeet Natak Akademi.

Visit the Kalakshetra website here.