Friday 29 January 2016

Indian classical art forms: because they aren't uncool, just misunderstood

I recently attended a classical dance performance. It was after a really really long time, and I went reluctantly because it was cold. But I had to go, one of my closest friends had asked me to come with her, and I just couldn't refuse, you know. Boy! Was I thankful I went.


Rama Vaidyanathan performing one of her dances

That night, sitting in audience of the cold open stage, I fell in love. I fell in love all over again. I was reminded of what was that thing which drew me towards it initially. Dance for me, is like a drug. And after a really long time, I felt that high. It's a high like no other, it's a high where you forget everything else, it's you, your dance and the music. Now I don't do the usual bollywood stuff, I am no good at that, I am hardcore classical, but then that's my genre. The enchantment is strong, and the intoxication is long.

But what I noticed there, the only sad part, was the audience. Or the lack of it, I should say. I have come to realise this of late, that people are just unaware of the beauty that classical is. I don't say that other dance forms are bad. All dance is meditation for the dancer and treat for the eyes. What I do say is that classical is slowly becoming a forgotten dance genre. Bollywood movies promote western music and lyrics, and to the uneducated, catchy music is all that matters. People want relatable stuff, where they can sing and dance along. They don't want stuff that asks them to sit and watch, to absorb and explore in their minds, people want familiar. But then that goes for every single thing in life. We want and like things which seem familiar to us.

What if, you explored something new? what if you sat and watched? what if, we paid attention to what is really happening on stage?


Maybe, just maybe then you might be able to see something incredible. Maybe you will see the grace of every hand movement. Maybe you we see the intricacies of expressions portrayed by the dancer. Maybe you will notice the power of the leg movements. Maybe you will see the ease and expertise with which the dancer moves. Maybe you will understand how music and dance complement each other and maybe you will realise how beautifully they become one. Dance is music, music is dance. Expression is dance, mudra is dance. The sharp eye movements are dance. The lights are dance, the backdrop is dance. The stage is dance, the atmosphere is dance. The dancer is just the medium. Everything becomes dance once you really look. It becomes divine, and God becomes dance.

Yeah, I know all this sound very romantically painted, but classical dance is the most mathematically constructed of all the dances, with all beats complementing each other. All instruments playing in alignments which bring out the best of each instrument, while never overshadowing the other. How each time of the day has a specific kind of music and a specific kind of dance. How each season of the year has it's own set of chords. It wasn't magic that when Tansen sang Deepak raag at court the atmosphere became so hot that he was about to die of heat exposure, so much so that he had complementary singers singing Miya Malhar to bring about rain and save his life. It was science. The science of frequencies and vibrations.

At the time when we are embracing western culture blindly, we tend to overlook the fact that we have a few gemstones of our own. Classical music and dance is one such gem. It is in no way lesser than the dances popular in the west. While they have their charm, classical too has it's grace. Maybe we need to see where we are going with this westernization thing. Maybe we should remember our own heritage. Maybe we shouldn't laugh and downplay classical, but treat it as our own, treat it as we would other dances.

Classical is in a very bad shape today. everyone wants to play guitar, nobody want to play the veena. Because it takes longer to learn the veena. But the harder the path is, the greater the reward is. If you know classical, you can venture into any other genre. There is a reason we don't get singers like Rajan and Sajan Mishra, or Shankar Mahadevan or Sonu Nigam, or Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle today.

Outside India, people are doing special trainings to learn Indian classical art forms. When they realise how rich and plentiful our forms are, why do we stay blind to it? Why do we shun everything desi? Maybe, this year, let us all try to love our heritage and culture a little bit more, be more accepting towards what we have, instead of finding faults with it. Let's try to understand classical and give it a chance. Let's all be a little bit nicer to what is our own.