Dance, said, Anita Ratnam is a disease. Once you start dancing, you don’t want to give it up. But, what happens when you have to negotiate aspects like the economics of it, the ‘return on investment’ and whether you would be able to afford the slot in the sabha to purse the art you love? With the intense commodification of dance, art in the true sense can no longer be pursued for arts’ sake, rued the dancer while talking about the changing face of Chennai’s dance scene on Wednesday, as part of Madras Week celebrations.
Chronicling the symbiotic relationship between dance and cinema in the 1950s and 60s to the present day, when most dancers reserve their best performances for ‘export’ rather than to be performed during the December season in the city, she tracked the downward spiral, this art of ‘diminishing returns’ has gone through.
“When Kalakshetra was established, it was the first time that dance was taught through a syllabus, and in progression through steps. Rukmani Devi was able to attract greats like Tiger Varadachariar,” she recalled. And, when the great gurus started coming to Madras, a whole generation of people came to learn dance.
Extolling the vigour with which dance was learnt and practised back then, she said, “Vyjayanthimala Bali in those days would finish shooting at 2 a.m., would take a complete oil bath and would start practice from 4 to 6.30 a.m. at Natyalaya.” Today, on Vijayasami, you find gurus on Skype with students from four countries sitting ready with their thambulam and salangai, she said. “We have over 1,000 dance schools and in many, dance is taught like an item on a menu,” she observed.
She cited the lack of funding and infrastructure, as major hurdles to the art. “We have enough dancers for the next 20 years, but no audiences,” she said. We are becoming a monoculture, she observed, and the lines between the different schools of dance are blurring.
