How is an archive born? Of course there are the ‘official’ repositories that are sanctioned and maintained by the State as a duty to its citizens and its history. But what of the numerous private collections comprising realms of material sitting in the homes of people? What drove them to collect what they did?
The story of Sivakumar Perumal Pandithar throws some light on a few of these questions. In his early teens, out of a burgeoning interest for classical dance, when Sivakumar, began collecting articles, reviews and brochures of dancers and dance festivals, little did he know that they would prove to be a valuable archive of dance someday. Sivakumar, who works as an accountant at a BPO in Pune, was in Bangalore over the weekend to display a snippet from his archive at Dance Jatre 2015, the annual two-day dance fair organised by Shambhavi School of Dance.
“I grew up in Pune and my parents were deeply passionate about music and dance. Since I was the youngest child, I’d spend a lot of time with them and imbibed an interest in dance gradually. Those days, it was just the Doordarshan which would telecast dance programmes. Occasionally, I was able to attend festivals too. However, since they would take place late in the evening, I wasn’t given permission to attend all of them. So, I would end up reading about the event, instead. It was then that I began to cut out clippings about dance that I liked from newspapers and collecting them,” recalled Sivakumar.
What began as a hobby gradually acquired a fervour that only grew as Sivakumar attended more dance festivals. He recalls, in particular, a dance recital by Bharatanatyam danseuse, Alarmel Valli that he attended in Pune. “I had never seen a performance like that before. I was so moved by her dance that I stood up and clapped after every piece. I then wrote a letter to the editor of The Indian Express. The letter was published along with a photo of Alarmel Valli’s recital. This only encouraged me further and I read and collected as much material on dance as I could,” he narrated.
Sivakumar only began to realise the archival value of his collection when the director of the Max Mueller Bhavan in Pune suggested that he must make the clippings available to the public. “He told me that the reviews and writings on dance that I had collected serve as a document of classical dance’s transition over time. He said that they have a lot of informational value,” he recounted.
The earliest clipping in his growing archive is from 1993. Out of over 2000 clippings from his archive, only 180-odd leaflets were put up on huge boards propped up against the trees in Chitrakala Parishath. Comprising mostly of reviews of famous dancers, Sivakumar had divided the clippings into categories: Bharatanatyam, Chau, Manipuri, Sattriya, Mohiniattam, Chakkiar Koothu, Kuchipudi, etc. One of the boards was categorised as ‘Tough times for dance and music’ and had comment pieces on the state of art, institutions of art etc.
“I feel bad each time a particular clipping does not make it to an exhibition. It is so difficult to choose. Often, when there would be two dance reviews back to back in a newspaper, I would be confronted with a similar dilemma of choosing one among them to cut out. Then I began subscribing to two copies of the same newspaper.”
Has he never wanted to become a dancer? “Well, I was born with two left feet, I suppose. This is my way of staying connected to the field of dance.”
Apart from maintaining this archive, Sivakumar also undertakes what he calls a ‘pilgrimage’ where he makes it a point to meet as many dancers as he can. Among the clippings was a review of Leela Samson’s dance performance with a note from Leela Samson herself. “I met her in her house. I was so star struck I could barely talk,” recalled Sivakumar.
