A lot of today’s classical and concert dance forms began with a revolution and cultural transformation, wherein pioneers of the form and society’s elite used dance as a means to propagate new ideas and thought. Modern dance came during a historical shift of the 20th century where dance pioneers broke away from the confines and rules of ballet, as well as the rigid social structure, to enter a new form of freedom and expression. In India, the Anti-Nautch movement of the 1920’s arose at a time when Indian culture and values were being reviewed through the lens of the glorified British colonisers. The devadasi culture of temple dances became a shameful practice, where dancers began to be persecuted and stripped of their way of life. In this purification of Indian dance forms and the devadasi practice, Rukmini Devi took it upon herself to redefine the Indian dance form separate from the devadasi tradition. Though the Natya Shastra was an effort to return Bharatnatyam to its pure and devotional form, it seemsthat practitioners today practice the dance devoid of these intentions and “bharatnatyam” becomes a skillful pursuit, where performances and recitals become exhibitionistic in presentation. Is there something that young practitioners are missing, or is there something in the pedagogy that fails to transmit the embodied essence of the form? I do not mean to dismiss the many young dancers devout in their practice and ideologies, and quite aware of their history and lineages. However, I feel the majority of young dancers often loose interest, or rather, connection with the art form when its “gurus” drill into their pupils the mechanicity of form and rhythm without heart.

 Much of codified dance forms idealise form, technique and “proper” placement. In Bharatnatyam, novices and students are familiar with the authoritarian “guru” who safeguards the form with a watchful eye whether the students are picking up physical nuances of the form. Likewise, in my training in modern dance practices like Graham and Limon, I see a similar situation in the classroom setting as well as the teacher-student relationship. 

There is high priority given to the replication and understanding of forms and shapes, of virtuosity and execution of steps and movement. Very rarely did I encounter a teacher trying to transmit the visceral embodied feelings that Martha Graham felt and evoked in her works – but even if they did, it boiled down to the physical execution of using our “contraction” and “release” and dramatizing the body. If graham was a visceral expression devised by Martha Graham, why then has it taken me so long to find a connection between my movement and the form. Is this perhaps the hurdle that students who later become performers and choreographer need to overcome – to find a way to use movement and form in a way that transcends shapes and techniques, and use poetry of the body as an evocative tool rather than a narrative gestural language, the way words guide readers of a book?

 Discipline, rigour, grit, perseverance and endurance – ingredients, we are trained to believe are the necessary qualities of a dancer. But perhaps we may not need to build these tough outer shells and the mechanicity it brings, to only later shed and deconstruct our training and find our own voice (if one is lucky). It is only after several years of rejecting the graham technique and its philosophies, that I later found the value, beauty and poetry it offers me. I understand that we all have to go on our own journeys to understand our voice and assimilate the knowledge we have acquired. But, I also believe, that a change and reformation in the transmission of form based techniques is much needed. I feel that the “tradition” of a classroom, studio, teacher-pupil relationships need to be challenged and really look into the pedagogical practice – not only to produce virtuosic dancers, but also to nurture and evoke intelligent, inquisitive and creative dancers who can connect with the tools and ideas to explore their own inner universe. Perhaps it is time for a new kind of revolution in dance, to bring back the freedom of movement and exploration that has been lost in the institutionalisation of form.