In an apparently fast evolving phase of classical dance, the growth from a dancer into an accepted artiste seems slow, in comparison to the transition from teachers to gurus. From the conversation with Prof. Chandrasekhar and one of his mentees, Praveen Kumar, which formed the first of a three-part series on mentorship, we move to another perspective on the topic, from senior dancer-choreographer Malavika Sarukkai and Jyotsna Jagannathan, training under her.
A performing spell nearing 50 years, a niche carved among her contemporaries, awards, collaborations, curation, what more would it take to play a mentor to mature dancers? “Willingness and a sense of responsibility to guide,” says Malavika Sarukkai.
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“It is interesting that dancers have no reference, like a tanpura for musicians, to alert them about their quality,” observes Malavika. “It is important then to find the internal tanpura, to develop ourselves. Mentoring can be an influence to keep alive the search and the desire to delve deep into the art form, in a fragmented, chaotic world,” she adds.
Not clones
Malavika explains that mentoring is not about creating clones or about numbers without quality, it is about a more rounded approach to help achieve excellence.
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On her approach as a mentor, she says, “It starts with a debriefing after every performance in terms of grammar, technique, and behind-the scene details such as poetry, costume, etc.” Similar thoughts shared by Malavika and Jyotsna, proved that the mentor and the mentee were on the same page.
“The feeling of being around an experienced dancer, who can still get excited about a simple ‘Alapadma’ or a ‘kita thaka thari kita thom’ falling in place, is inspirational and contagious,” begins Jyotsna. “How do you walk into a space and devour it with the interaction of body and space? How do you chisel your movements? How do you decide when to show restraint and when to exaggerate the abhinaya? As a mentor, she helps me articulate my ideas in dance and invest in the essence of the movement. Silence in dance, how to choose a sound design, work ethics and attention to detail are things that stand out among whatever I have learnt from her.
“She culls out strengths, built from what I learnt from my teachers. It is difficult to shift dynamics when you have a student-teacher relationship. There is a creative freedom with a mentor, which one can appreciate only after going through the rigorous training,” elaborates Jyotsna, who has recently been selected for the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Kala Puraskar award by The Sangeet Natak Akademi.
Malavika chooses her words as she says, “When art is not centre stage, how does one live a life in art? It is an entirely different world today, in terms of the demands on the dancer — from the time when a Yamini Krishnamurthy or a Sanjuktha Panigrahi performed or even at the time when I started performing. My training took place in a conducive environment, with my mother honing my skills and criticising my work, which may not be a support system that is practical for everyone to have. A mentor could create that fertile ground for the art to grow. I see the responsibility to validate the quest for those who are serious about the endeavour of dance and derive the great joy in transference of the grand vision.”
The launch of the Kalavaahini Trust is a recent step forward in that direction, awarding a junior and senior fellowship annually to deserving dancers, apart from dance immersion programmes and productions.
(The first part of the Mentorship series appeared on June 9)