Check it out, folks.
As an update, our social media enterprise is working pretty well, particularly YouTube. At this point, we've attempted putting up 1 minute clips of events we have done, either via Navatman Productions or Navatman Dance. We are utilizing commercials to clarify what and who we are, and try to keep it short or funky and quirky enough to hold your interest.
I love what we've been doing and we've upped our YouTube views to 15,000 total over 10 or so public videos we have as part of our channel using simple raw iPhone videos.
I'm excited to see where we go from here - we'll be next utilizing (slightly) more professional equipment for properly shot, well lit videos and it would be great to see how that ups the level at which people pay attention to what we're doing.
Showing posts with label dance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dance. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Female aesthetics in Indian classical dance
I have to say, there is one major thing that disappoints me about Indian classical dance today - our obsession with the body being "skinny".
I am definitely culprit of it myself, and our discussions of what we should or shouldn't eat, or how much we would like to reduce our weight has overtaken our daily dance rehearsals.
Why???
I put my foot down this week, and banned us from discussing our bodies, and even then, I still spoke about it once or twice. We are not lazy dancers, We pushing our bodies to the limit in rehearsal 3 hours everyday, 5 days a week. When performances come up, we do double rehearsals twice a day. We are strong, we are flexible, but we are not size zeros, and somehow, this bothers us.
More and more, India is looking west to take on ideals of the body that we have here. I hear major artists talk about how many "thin is in, fat is out" and dancers need to reduce weight to carry themselves on stage.
I just don't believe this to be true. Dancers have to be strong and beautiful. And that can come in many shapes. Yes, overweight is not good, and aesthetics are part of the game since dance is a visual form, but my heart breaks when I see dancers who are size fours and sixes eat two chappatis a night after 6 hours of rehearsal and obsess over themselves to have the body of the 15 year old sitting next to us.
When did we become like this? Oh, right, because of this:
And this:
And this:
We are proud, beautiful, Indian women with curves.
Don't let media moguls suggest otherwise.
I am definitely culprit of it myself, and our discussions of what we should or shouldn't eat, or how much we would like to reduce our weight has overtaken our daily dance rehearsals.
Why???
I put my foot down this week, and banned us from discussing our bodies, and even then, I still spoke about it once or twice. We are not lazy dancers, We pushing our bodies to the limit in rehearsal 3 hours everyday, 5 days a week. When performances come up, we do double rehearsals twice a day. We are strong, we are flexible, but we are not size zeros, and somehow, this bothers us.
More and more, India is looking west to take on ideals of the body that we have here. I hear major artists talk about how many "thin is in, fat is out" and dancers need to reduce weight to carry themselves on stage.
I just don't believe this to be true. Dancers have to be strong and beautiful. And that can come in many shapes. Yes, overweight is not good, and aesthetics are part of the game since dance is a visual form, but my heart breaks when I see dancers who are size fours and sixes eat two chappatis a night after 6 hours of rehearsal and obsess over themselves to have the body of the 15 year old sitting next to us.
When did we become like this? Oh, right, because of this:
And this:
And this:
We are proud, beautiful, Indian women with curves.
Don't let media moguls suggest otherwise.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Navatman Dance and social media
Hello all!
So I am going to try a series of small experiments involving nonprofit arts production and our dance cmpany. It's rare to find rehearsal clips of dance on youtube, especially of Indian classical dance because I think we all fear that one bad comment. But, sometimes you have to take a risk and accept the feedback!
Sooo I am putting up 1 minute video clips on youtube, inspired by Shankar Tucker and Urban Dance Camp. Let's see how it goes...
So I am going to try a series of small experiments involving nonprofit arts production and our dance cmpany. It's rare to find rehearsal clips of dance on youtube, especially of Indian classical dance because I think we all fear that one bad comment. But, sometimes you have to take a risk and accept the feedback!
Sooo I am putting up 1 minute video clips on youtube, inspired by Shankar Tucker and Urban Dance Camp. Let's see how it goes...
Sunday, February 10, 2013
A Kalakshetra Teacher in Beijing
This video made me so happy. Bharatanatyam is showing that it can certainly be taught and appreciated as a class on a global level.
Maybe it is because, as the author says, people are looking to diversify, tired of having their children take ballet and piano lessons, but even if that's the case, it's a big step in the right direction for Indian arts to be valued in a more mainstream manner!
Friday, December 7, 2012
The meditative quality of dance and music...and bubble wrap
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/12/06/166685434/what-to-do-when-the-bus-doesn-t-come-and-you-want-to-scream-an-experiment?utm_source=NPR&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20121207
The post above describes the frustration of waiting - and how to keep ourselves occupied, thus reducing said frustration - with something as simple as popping a bubble.
Tablet and phone applications work in this exact manner. What is so fascinating about slicing fruit that it can hold us for a 45 minute subway ride?
The answer: absolutely nothing. We just prefer having something to do than not.
Which brings me back to dance, music and meditation. Shouldn't we be able to manage a 5 minute wait for a bus without wanting to scream? I find that I can happily sit on an hour long bus ride, daydreaming or thinking about the actions of my day or my plans for the future. And I am quite sure that my dance training is why I am able to do this (coupled along with a highly active Roald Dahl-esque imagination, except my flying peaches are filled with taans and alaps and have clouds that can be used as dance floors).
The power of focus for the practitioner is truly where the power of art lies. Both from the standpoint of the viewer: can the art take you to a place where you don't feel like you are waiting for the end of the performance? Where it centers your focus, draws you in, and holds you in a meditative state of mind? And from the standpoint of the artist: can you focus during your practice on the one step that needs to be repeated over and over for 30 minutes. Can you focus during the song itself so deeply that you are truly present in the moment?
I suppose you can argue that bubble wrap is a focus, a simple, repetitive motion that allows you to be both the artist and the viewer. However, I think we can agree that most of us feel like we've gotten a hell of a lot more out of the meditative quality of an intense show than from chucking angry birds at some poorly piled up wood.
The post above describes the frustration of waiting - and how to keep ourselves occupied, thus reducing said frustration - with something as simple as popping a bubble.
Tablet and phone applications work in this exact manner. What is so fascinating about slicing fruit that it can hold us for a 45 minute subway ride?
The answer: absolutely nothing. We just prefer having something to do than not.
Which brings me back to dance, music and meditation. Shouldn't we be able to manage a 5 minute wait for a bus without wanting to scream? I find that I can happily sit on an hour long bus ride, daydreaming or thinking about the actions of my day or my plans for the future. And I am quite sure that my dance training is why I am able to do this (coupled along with a highly active Roald Dahl-esque imagination, except my flying peaches are filled with taans and alaps and have clouds that can be used as dance floors).
The power of focus for the practitioner is truly where the power of art lies. Both from the standpoint of the viewer: can the art take you to a place where you don't feel like you are waiting for the end of the performance? Where it centers your focus, draws you in, and holds you in a meditative state of mind? And from the standpoint of the artist: can you focus during your practice on the one step that needs to be repeated over and over for 30 minutes. Can you focus during the song itself so deeply that you are truly present in the moment?
I suppose you can argue that bubble wrap is a focus, a simple, repetitive motion that allows you to be both the artist and the viewer. However, I think we can agree that most of us feel like we've gotten a hell of a lot more out of the meditative quality of an intense show than from chucking angry birds at some poorly piled up wood.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Nrityagram: A globalized dance form
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.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
The shrinking circle of Indian classical dance lovers
I had a long conversation with a friend yesterday as to why we thought Indian classical dance doesn't have the same viewership - or importance - as 50, 200, 1,000 years ago.
There are a few, obvious reasons which I've stated before:
1. The fact that Indian classical dance and music is no longer tied into the nationalist movement.
2. Globalization and the film industry - the Shakiras and the Beyonces are the new Shakespeares and Thyagarajas. I have no comment on this because I don't have the perspective of history analyzing their work, and certainly some of it is very smart, but there's no denying the statistics.
Then there are less obvious, but incredibly (in my opinion) damaging issues:
3. The allocation of Indian classical dance and music for only an educated sub-sect of people, or only Indians. When we forget that we're dancing for more than just people who like Indian classical dance, and that that number is diminishing because we're competing with the above forces, we make it really difficult for people to choose us on a Friday night instead of...well...anything else. I think this is changing dramatically, at least in the US, but definitely between the 70's to the 90's - and even perhaps up to just a few years back - this was the case.
4. Preservation. We're so stuck on preserving certain ideals and certain ways of doing things that we suffocate, close off, and strangle the art form. And, like Woody Allen says about relationships, art is like a shark. If it doesn't keep moving, it dies. I can't understand why a patron in India would oppose a kick that reaches a full split because it doesn't seem "bharatanatyam" enough. Have you seen the sculptures in the temples? They are doing things we have not achieved yet!
5. A lack of knowledge or unwillingness to push the body and the adavus. Bharatnatyam, odissi, etc is more than just how low you can sit in aramande or the chauka. Every part should get detail work, we need to be working with physicists, kinesthesiology, etc, to see where we can go further with it. It cannot stop with just the adavus. One of the reasons (other than sheer numbers of people they need for just one show, which can definitely play into it) ballet and contemporary does so well is because the body does things that you just sit there and go..."Wow" too. It's not necessarily just about the flow, the theme, the art. Again, for me, now this is changing. But maybe 20-30 years before 2000 this wasn't happening.
6. Politics. Why has it taken us SO long to join forces? Who cares what the other person is doing? Yes, quality is important, protecting your work is important, but egos need to be set aside. The generation of artists I have been working with are amazing, but I am sometimes still in the middle of - and hear things - that just shock me. This field is difficult enough without other dancers trying to upend other efforts. Work on yourself and your work, spread your message, the fact of the matter is, if one person does really well, they merely bring others to start watching.
And if you are so concerned about quality: once you do watch something great, it's hard to go back to something not so great.
There are a few, obvious reasons which I've stated before:
1. The fact that Indian classical dance and music is no longer tied into the nationalist movement.
2. Globalization and the film industry - the Shakiras and the Beyonces are the new Shakespeares and Thyagarajas. I have no comment on this because I don't have the perspective of history analyzing their work, and certainly some of it is very smart, but there's no denying the statistics.
Then there are less obvious, but incredibly (in my opinion) damaging issues:
3. The allocation of Indian classical dance and music for only an educated sub-sect of people, or only Indians. When we forget that we're dancing for more than just people who like Indian classical dance, and that that number is diminishing because we're competing with the above forces, we make it really difficult for people to choose us on a Friday night instead of...well...anything else. I think this is changing dramatically, at least in the US, but definitely between the 70's to the 90's - and even perhaps up to just a few years back - this was the case.
4. Preservation. We're so stuck on preserving certain ideals and certain ways of doing things that we suffocate, close off, and strangle the art form. And, like Woody Allen says about relationships, art is like a shark. If it doesn't keep moving, it dies. I can't understand why a patron in India would oppose a kick that reaches a full split because it doesn't seem "bharatanatyam" enough. Have you seen the sculptures in the temples? They are doing things we have not achieved yet!
5. A lack of knowledge or unwillingness to push the body and the adavus. Bharatnatyam, odissi, etc is more than just how low you can sit in aramande or the chauka. Every part should get detail work, we need to be working with physicists, kinesthesiology, etc, to see where we can go further with it. It cannot stop with just the adavus. One of the reasons (other than sheer numbers of people they need for just one show, which can definitely play into it) ballet and contemporary does so well is because the body does things that you just sit there and go..."Wow" too. It's not necessarily just about the flow, the theme, the art. Again, for me, now this is changing. But maybe 20-30 years before 2000 this wasn't happening.
6. Politics. Why has it taken us SO long to join forces? Who cares what the other person is doing? Yes, quality is important, protecting your work is important, but egos need to be set aside. The generation of artists I have been working with are amazing, but I am sometimes still in the middle of - and hear things - that just shock me. This field is difficult enough without other dancers trying to upend other efforts. Work on yourself and your work, spread your message, the fact of the matter is, if one person does really well, they merely bring others to start watching.
And if you are so concerned about quality: once you do watch something great, it's hard to go back to something not so great.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Nrtta Hastas
Did you know there are nrtta hastas listed in the Natyashastra specifically used for nrtta? I had no idea - I thought there were just the 28 asamyuta hastas (one hand gestures). I am going to look up these in my copy of the Natyashastra and make them available to you here.
Interesting, isn't it, how much we take from the Natyashastra and at the same time how much we ignore?
Definitely proof of why you can move past texts to choreograph within classical dances.
Interesting, isn't it, how much we take from the Natyashastra and at the same time how much we ignore?
Definitely proof of why you can move past texts to choreograph within classical dances.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Shameless self promotion...
After months of agonizing and re-editing and searching and stalking of various persons, Jesse and I finally completed Art Is...
And then promptly lost our re visioned copy in a massive hard drive crash. Since I have no idea if the completed version will ever be recovered by this data recovery company, I am putting up our first version of this video. The music too will be available on iTunes soon! Yay!
For those of you who are interested in the process, about a year ago I wrote a poem I entitled "Art Is..." during a time when I was searching for reasons as to why I had fully entered the dance world. I decided to make it a film piece and translate the poem into solo movement and then re-translate it with "subtitles" on the film. And because I felt it was a universal thing for a dancer to struggle with why they dance full time and reason it all out within a studio, I wanted to utilize the film in such a way that it was 3 distinct solos proclaiming the same idea to the world. A few month's later I came across Liz's song, but wanting a more global feel, we asked Arun to join her on the record. Six months later I got the recording. And for two weeks while I was in India last year, I stalked a street artist and filmed him doing his job in front of the Mylapore temple. (I think it was Mylapore). Finally, in January, we filmed the dancers at the Sukha Yoga studio and Madison Square Park and premiered it at Navatman's one year anniversary. So this simple, six minute piece took about a year and a half to complete.
I hope you enjoy it!
And then promptly lost our re visioned copy in a massive hard drive crash. Since I have no idea if the completed version will ever be recovered by this data recovery company, I am putting up our first version of this video. The music too will be available on iTunes soon! Yay!
For those of you who are interested in the process, about a year ago I wrote a poem I entitled "Art Is..." during a time when I was searching for reasons as to why I had fully entered the dance world. I decided to make it a film piece and translate the poem into solo movement and then re-translate it with "subtitles" on the film. And because I felt it was a universal thing for a dancer to struggle with why they dance full time and reason it all out within a studio, I wanted to utilize the film in such a way that it was 3 distinct solos proclaiming the same idea to the world. A few month's later I came across Liz's song, but wanting a more global feel, we asked Arun to join her on the record. Six months later I got the recording. And for two weeks while I was in India last year, I stalked a street artist and filmed him doing his job in front of the Mylapore temple. (I think it was Mylapore). Finally, in January, we filmed the dancers at the Sukha Yoga studio and Madison Square Park and premiered it at Navatman's one year anniversary. So this simple, six minute piece took about a year and a half to complete.
I hope you enjoy it!
Memories
I just wanted to post this link - a choreography I was a major part of from my college days that still brings a lot of emotion to my being each time I watch it. Just for memory's sake.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Why I am starting this blog
I had a lot to say about dance. Some of it inane, some of it pure speculation, some of it highly personal. That was when I stumbled across Sanskrit, the study of which has quickly become one of my favorite things to do.
Thus, this blog is about the amazing things I learn about the two, a lot of it inspiring random theories and ideas that I'd like to keep track of. And believe me, the word random doesn't even come close to describing the weird connections I make with these subjects and seemingly unrelated ideas.
I am not grammatically correct all the time, my writing could use more eloquence, (hey, blame writing technical papers for 6 years) but I will eventually get my point across. To be perfectly honest, I don't know that I'll be 100% correct about every fact I put on here, but I will try my best, give references, and will absolutely fix any mistakes if I am informed of them! Take it with a grain of salt, as this blog is an outlet of passion and I'm just starting out in my research. But with a little luck it won't hinder you from understanding it and/or garnering inspiration, and if you give it a chance, you'll probably love this stuff too!
Thus, this blog is about the amazing things I learn about the two, a lot of it inspiring random theories and ideas that I'd like to keep track of. And believe me, the word random doesn't even come close to describing the weird connections I make with these subjects and seemingly unrelated ideas.
I am not grammatically correct all the time, my writing could use more eloquence, (hey, blame writing technical papers for 6 years) but I will eventually get my point across. To be perfectly honest, I don't know that I'll be 100% correct about every fact I put on here, but I will try my best, give references, and will absolutely fix any mistakes if I am informed of them! Take it with a grain of salt, as this blog is an outlet of passion and I'm just starting out in my research. But with a little luck it won't hinder you from understanding it and/or garnering inspiration, and if you give it a chance, you'll probably love this stuff too!
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