The joy experienced by practitioners of art is largely indescribable, except to those who, well, experience it. Often though, the enjoyment is frustrated by the compulsions of making a living, the rivalry of competition, as well as widely pervasive notions of celebrity that clash with the concepts on which the practice of art is based — concepts like openness, constant learning, process — rather than product-orientation, etc. Swagata Sen Pillai, founder-director of Kinkini Dhvani Institute of Performing Arts, has decided to institute a festival where artists and gurus actively seek out that joy once more.
The festival features two artists. One performer is invited and in turn invites a friend as a co-artist. The friendship, explains Swagata, is based on their art and not merely a personal relationship.
The opening edition of Sauhardya this Saturday in New Delhi features Vinod Kevin Akshay Bachan (Odissi) and Simer Preet Singh Sokhi (Bharatanatyam). Kevin, from Trinidad and Tobago, is an international scholarship holder under the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and currently under the tutelage of Ranjana Gauhar. Simer is an alumnus of Kalakshetra, Chennai and, since settling in Delhi, has been under Swagata’s mentorship. The two will perform an opening and a closing composition together, besides solo pieces.
Simer, the younger of the two dancers, completed his training at Kalakshetra in 2015. Swagata admires the relationship of the two friends, who learn much from working with each other. “They came in touch because of their dancing,” she says, and states that this easy camaraderie between young artists is disappearing, at least from cities like Delhi.
“Everyone is fighting for the same pie, like the same festival, the same grant,” she says. “The youngsters have stopped enjoying dance, they’re so busy trying to be organisers, get programmes….”
She is also concerned that teachers don’t watch each other’s students or encourage their own disciples to attend programmes by other youngsters. “I’ve heard it from so many students that their gurus don’t like them to see other gurus’ students.”
When youngsters with serious ambitions of making it professionally do attend performances, the motivation is often more to be ‘seen’, feels Swagata, than to learn and absorb new experiences. “The fight is not to be the best, but trying to be the most visible.”
Not all gurus are alike, and not everyone would agree with Swagata’s assessment. However, no one can deny that “a large part of being an artist is being a rasika, developing the aesthetic sense. And the minute they stop looking at each other as competitors they’ll start enjoying what the other is doing.”
The fact that Ranjana Gauhar is the guru of one of the dancers is no coincidence. Swagata says, “I think the ‘Sare Jahan se Accha’ (annual festival curated by Ranjana) was one of the first places I saw where people (from across dance genres) were invited to do what they wanted to do with a theme. And I thought, that’s the camaraderie the performing arts are supposed to bring out. I thought at least the youngsters should spend time enjoying their art.”
An alumna of Kalakshetra, Swagata has been teaching Bharatanatyam in Delhi-NCR for over two decades. She has for many years organised a festival in memory of Kalakshetra founder Rukmini Devi Arundale. She also regularly celebrates World Dance Day with Vividharpan, in which, she notes, she makes a point of inviting dancers from various genres.
Currently unsupported by outside funding, Sauhardya by its very nature will definitely attract support in the years to come, the Kinkini Dhvani founder is convinced. Future editions, she says, could feature a dancer and a musician friend performing separate concerts or in combination. Or artist friends from different cities might come together. There are multiple ways of bringing friendship and art to the stage, she concludes, and she wants to explore them.
(Sauhardya, October 22, at Triveni Kala Sangam, Tansen Marg, New Delhi, 6.30 p.m.)
