In the almost 50 years of her dance journey, Daksha Sheth has never quite ceased to be the wild child. Her audacious approach to art can be traced to her training days in Kathak under avant-garde Guru Kumudini Lakhia, from whose school have emerged the most experimental of artistes. Labelled a rebel, Daksha has been derided for her brave departures of style. Her innovative and bold use of the body has denied her a place in mainstream dance, yet she refuses to step back. Behind this steely will is a petite dancer, who is composed with an assertive but affable manner. As she talks, you hear a woman and an artiste, who has fought the odds with a fierce sense of integrity.
“You need courage to stand alone and conviction to go against the norm,” says Daksha, taking time out from rehearsals as her dance company prepares for its debut performance at the prestigious Edinburgh festival next month. “There is no unpleasantness over not finding greater acceptance because this is the way I want to engage with the art. It has never been a desperate attempt to be different, I go by my instincts. I keep my students, family and myself far away from comparisons and competitions. We are happy to be in our own space and work at a pace we are comfortable with.”
Daksha is taking ‘Sari’ to Edinburgh. Though premiered in 2014, the production that traces the journey of a cotton seed from germination to weaving threads into unstitched drape, throbs with the vigour of improvisation. “No creative work can be static. It is an ever-changing collage of sound, movement and imagery,” says Daksha, who with finesse combines the sacred and the profane, the classical and the raw.
Several levels
Daksha’s productions, which have been staged across the world, work at several levels. ‘Sari’ begins in the weavers’ hands and culminates in a personal and sensuous experience for the wearer. While unravelling the joy of this journey, it also takes into its fold the distressing lives of traditional weavers, who today face threat from factory-made, mass-produced fabrics. “When friend Rta Kapur Chisti, also the co-author of Saris — Tradition and Beyond suggested the idea of sari as a motif of choreography, I turned it down. But when she told me about the plight of the weavers and the urgent need to do something to save this heritage; I decided to take it up. This garment, like our dance, celebrates the body. It embodies both old-world charm and contemporariness. And when I began to work, the stretch of imagination it lent itself to amazed me. The six-yard seemed far more liberating than constricting as is perceived.”
The essence of Daksha’s movement philosophy is also to let go... let go of the urgency to achieve and instead be turned on by the sense of discovery. “It is then that you perform without fear of failure and develop an honest and open relationship with the art. Dance forms are mere resources I draw from. I do not investigate every movement. There is no rigid technique or vocabulary. It’s an intensely physical and personal approach. I encourage my dancers to first listen to their body before telling it what to do. I teach them to go beyond familiar limits and build an awareness of emotions.”
Daksha has not consciously built her image of a contemporary artiste. “I am against branding of any sort. Dance is dissolving your self-consciousness. From the day I met Devissaro in Delhi, where I moved to after spending almost 18 years pursuing Kathak in Ahmedabad, we have led a simple life but on our terms. Our shared creative vision gave us the strength to face challenges. When there is deep understanding nothing can bother you,” she explains.
“I have never approached anybody for a performance opportunity or funding, even if it meant being out of work. I am content with the work and money my dance company generates. Thankfully my husband, dancer-daughter Isha Sharvani and musician-son Tao have stood by me and my beliefs. So also my small set of students.”
Though Daskha’s productions are seen as modernist and abstract, the artiste argues that indigenous arts are at the heart of her work. She along with Devissaro and daughter Isha spent three years in Vrindavan, living in the temple complex and offering nrityaseva to Lord Krishna. It is here that she learnt the verses of Ashtachap saint-poets, who were also great musicians.
Daksha is the first female artiste to perform Chhau as a soloist, specialising in Mayurbhanj, a style of Chhau performed without masks. She also learnt the aerial and pole techniques of Mallakhamb, the martial art of Maharashtra, besides gaining expertise in Silambam. When she went to Kerala to train in Kalaripayattu, the couple decided to set up its home near the serene backwaters. “We built our house-cum-studio, brick by brick, on a piece of barren land by lake Vellayani on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram. We created a mini-forest by planting about 500 trees. My works birth in the lap of Nature. In fact, ‘Sarpagati’ was inspired by the snakes that slither around our house,” laughs Daksha. She’s truly a wild child!
Life with Daksha
An Australian-born musician and photographer, Devissaro is the technical director and music composer for Daksha Sheth Dance Company productions. He met Daksha while studying Dhrupad (he also learnt to play the bansuri and pakhawaj) with the Dagar family in Delhi. Daksha had moved to Delhi, primarily to learn Mayurbhanj Chhau and to further her Kathak training under Pt. Birju Maharaj. “We often bumped into each other at concerts and discovered we had similar interests. The decision to leave her home in Ahmedabad to strike out on her own in Delhi, opened up a whole new world for Daksha. But many people thought she was crazy to be pursuing Chhau. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the stupid girl married a long-haired westerner, whose only possession was a bicycle; a wanderer with no career or financial prospects. And to top it all, the girl was soon pregnant. It all meant only one thing: end of her career. Actually, it was the beginning of a new career for both of us. Daksha’s ‘mistakes’ marked the beginning of a shared life of adventure, of travelling off the beaten path, embracing the unknown and unexpected.”
Daksha Sheth
However, living in Delhi while trying to create new and exciting dance works proved quite a challenge for the couple. The exorbitant rents meant the bulk of their time was spent paying for accommodation. The two decided to move to a rural area to focus on their work and to let their children grow up in healthy environs. Also Daksha’s early dance experiments outraged classical doyens and she was banned from performing in any of Kathak Kendra’s festivals.
“The opposition inspired her to chart a new course. And as they say, she has not looked back since.”
