Bharatanatyam exponent Malavika Sarukkai is as known for her impeccable meditations on dance as she is for her avant-garde dance itself. When she talks joyously about sustaining and enjoying her craft for 40 years, as against how easily most of us are giving in to the ordinary, living merely functional lives, you want her to galvanise you further. In Bengaluru for a performance, a few questions trigger in her a flow of ideas. Edited excerpts:
Dance has made me... relate to people. Made me aware of relationships, changed me as a person. Made me see that I'm part of a much larger web. Dance makes you empathise. That helps you be more human. If I want to dance a story about a tree, unless I empathise with it, I couldn't really create it. Which means I have to step out of myself. As a dancer I have to relate to poetry, music, people, space, rhythm, to the world around me. I’m most happy that dance has helped me open up as a person and allowed for observation. It's important to observe; we learn many things through that.
To sustain 40 years in dance, is a long spell... In any profession, how do you sustain, if you wish to? If every three years you want to jump and do something else, it's a choice. It's fine. There's a joy that comes with sustaining but that joy has to come from within. If I savour the art of doing it, for the art itself, then there is as certain utsaha we find in ourselves. In my experience you have to find the joy within. A large part of how I sustained 40 years was because my mother was my soul mate. She stood by me, travelled with me. Now she's not there and I still have to go on. It's very tough to go on... Nowadays when dancers come to me before a concert I tell them, "dance for dance". That's it. There's no target we have. You don't have to dance for audience or peers.
Do you think creativity happens in a burst of excitement? No! You work and craft, and rework, till “Aha!” you feel you've come to something. The test in dance is, every time I rehearse it, can I live it? Can we actually invest so much? But if you do, you'll be surprised how much you can push it. It is then you discover yourself. It's the same across disciplines -- with an athlete, poet, scientist....that is inspiration.
If you're going to live in a world saying everything is boring... and I've that already done this and that, it's like living life second hand. Don't you want to live life first hand? What is keeping you from giving your 100 per cent? Don't you want excellence? Don't you want to touch something you've never seen before? Why do we want to live incompletely? I don't know... Or is it the world telling us transactional and functional is fine, just live by it. Why are we giving in to it? Why are we letting the world tell us how we should be? “Everybody is doing it, so I'll do it too”; peer pressure. Why should we not ask for the extraordinary? Why should my dance be everyday? I want to hit the heavens...
How does body and mind come together... some days they come in sync, some days not. And when the body feels tired, make the mind will the body. The body is like an instrument and you have to constantly tune it...or it becomes besura . The mind is like a monkey that jumps from point to point. We have to harness this mind and we have to make it harmonise it with the body. And through the sheer alphabet of classical dance, you can do it. So in dance you can go from zero to 1,000 like this ( snaps her fingers ).
All classical artistes speak of sadhana... It's a process of preparing the instrument, which is the body. Everyday I prepare, so that when I'm on stage I have to be in a state which is alive, alert and sensitive to the spirit of dance. My sadhana of 40 years is coming into that one moment. I am prepared to receive the spirit of dance. And it's a wonderful feeling. The 'I' is not centrestage; dance is. And that is the meditative process, the release. Classical arts so beautifully, and you don't even notice it, prepare you for that, if done with a serious intention. If I want to make my dance very physical and attractive, that's also possible. That's another level. It's a choice each artist makes. It's their temperament, it's what they are seeking.
Youngsters and classical dance... Bharatanatyam and Kathak are the two most popular dance forms. They have the largest following. There are loads of people taking it up. But if you compare this number to those learning Bollywood dance, it would be less. But if you see it for itself, there are no dwindling numbers. Where we are lacking is the quality and intention of dance. We have a lot of people who are competent dancers but their dance is physical. It's attractive and nice and we have large numbers of them. From them we need to go to yet another stage where dancers are taking it up more seriously. Only that smaller number will go the long haul and contribute. We need more thinking dancers. Dancers with greater attention to technique. We have to take it out of the mere performative.
The more serious among dancers are not getting opportunities. Which is a pity. The mainstream is more about attractive. But attractive might not be meaningful. In every field, each individual does things differently. We have to increase the number of dancers who work on their technique and who can raise the bar of classical dance, who can present dance both nationally and internationally with a certain league, which we need to create. Dance is very popular -- every street in Chennai has a dance school.
A big problem we have in classical dance... is that we have is there is no differentiation between amateurs and professionals. Everybody is on the same stage. We don't have any ranking, different opportunities. Imagine a 30 year old who's taken it up seriously and who's given it her all. She needs to be supported in a different way. But it's one big cauldron -- it's many sizes all thrown together with a 'fend for yourself' attitude. Which is tough, because to make a mark in classical dance is difficult. We have to differentiate them from the kootam -- the crowd. After having put in 10 or 15 years we tell them to remain in the same group...organisers have to realise this.
Classical dance and dancers have to be supported continuously. You can't tell a dancer ‘I'll give you and opportunity this year, please come after three years and talk to me again’. They have to get stage experience every year. We need to value them. Or it can be disheartening. As a society what are we doing for them? A dancer's span is wide- dancers start early and to be recognised and succeed takes long. That's why I've started a trust, Kalavaahini. Everything is about funding. If funding comes in, I would love to do a programme of excellence, I would like to present younger dancers with potential, give them a platform they are excited about and get them to create something, give them money - for themselves, for their musicians. Give them a technical run through, time for preparation. Treat them like they are important. Make them feel pampered....why not? But for that, one has to curate well and it has to be on merit.
(Malavika Sarukkai will perform Vamatara-To The Light, on September 2, at Chowdiah Memorial Hall, 7.30 p.m.)
