If it is not clear yet, I consider myself to be a dancer, with a forte in bharatanatyam. It is how I communicate; it is how I live; it is how I breathe. I am in many senses nothing without it.
And as an Indian classical dancer, where mentors/gurus are
your source to continual improvement, and myself with no official teacher
training me at the moment, it has been difficult. For six years I have
floundered looking for someone -
sometimes, anyone - who would want to take on a dancer who wanted intensive
training. Sadly, I came up short. Until I took Nrityagram’s month long summer
workshop.
It is an incredible experience to find a teacher at this age
who is actually interested in developing professional level students whether
they are trained or untrained in the style. Most teachers in the Indian
classical dance field will write you off if you haven’t been with them for
years and years, and several more will show favoritism to the talented. Not so
at Nrityagram, where the philosophy emphasizes dedication and passion leading a
student towards carefully guided professional development.
Best of all is that the dance company remains firmly routed
in the traditions of Indian classical dance, while creating constant evolution
within the form. The result is an ever-developing
globalized art form. Though Nrityagram once had, and perhaps will again, house
other styles of dance, as of right now many of us associate them with a deep
commitment to the odissi form and ethos.
But the style here does not quite emphasize preservation or even simply
working with only the vocabulary that has been passed down to them…it is one
that has absorbed the techniques, stability, and graces of many other genres of
dance while adapting it to the art form. Never before have I seen so many
influences from dance around the world yet found it to remain firmly entrenched
within the curvaceous feel of odissi. And to me, this is what makes Nrityagram
so inspiring. They keep pushing the form forward.
At Nrityagram’s village, which is like a mini-college
complete with dorms and several areas to practice, is a quiet air of constant
learning, absorbing, and imbibing, even amongst the teachers. It is a place
that makes almost everyone who comes want to quit everything and stay here,
even with the lizards that hide behind your mirror and after you’ve killed your
twentieth cockroach in the bathroom. And this is not because the style of
dance, or the incredibly beautiful dancers, (though these are a product of the
atmosphere) but because of the inspiration and knowledge that the teachers
impart. After learning at Nrityagram, it’s difficult to imagine learning from
anyone else or any other way. It’s
an experience you hope you can consistently come back to, magnificent in its
simplicity, humbling, and utterly enthralling.
I wish, in some senses, I had found Nrityagram 5 years ago,
when I had first embarked on my permanent journey into the dance field. I would
have happily tried out for their residential program then, and with a little
luck may now consider odissi to be my forte rather than bharatanatyam.
In other senses, it was the perfect timing for me. It is a time when I feel I can truly appreciate and apply the perspective and criticisms of accomplished artists such as Bijayini Satpathy/Surupa Sen/Pavithra Reddy, without tons of ego (at least in relation to 5 years back), and with some of the carefully developed awareness of the body that I didn’t have when I was 21 – and took being a little lost as a dancer – to find.
And just like learning, there is no conclusion here, only
hope that I can continue onwards and upwards.
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