Dance
Beyond ethnicity
Deirdre McMahon
It t was gratifying to see such a large and appreciative audience at the opening night of the Indian dance festival at The Place but this is testimony of the ever-increasing interest in and enthusiasm for South Asian dance generally.
The popularity of Indian dance has taken some of its champions by surprise. Given the rich religious and mythological basis of Indian dance, there was quite a widespread belief that it would require lengthy explication if British audiences were to make sense of it. In fact, they have adjusted to its different demands remark- ably well. South Asian dance is now emerging from the ghetto where it has been marginalised for too long. In 1987-88 it came under the Arts Council's Ethnic Minorities category. In 1990-91 this categ- ory has been dropped, forcing ethnic dance groups to be assessed within the wider dance scene. This move has not been universally welcomed but it's time that ethnic dance was integrated into main- stream dance.
More problematical is the relationship between Indian dance in the subcontinent and Indian dance as it is now developing in Britain. Audiences may enjoy it but what about the effects of this partition on the dance itself? How can a dance tradition which is steeped in ritual and religion adapt to a secular culture like Britain's, particu- larly when many of the new generation of dancers and choreographers have no direct experience of its original context? The answers to these questions will not be 'Don't ask me to introduce you to Paddy Ashdown — I can't remember the name of his party.' answered for a long time, if ever. In the meantime, South Asian dance becomes an optional subject on the A-level dance syllabus in 1992, a development which promises to open up an even greater audience than we are seeing at present.
In India itself, as Simon Dove recently noted in Dance Theatre Journal, dance practice was largely introverted, insulated from the political, economic and social changes which have taken place in recent decades. There was a large degree of polarisation between traditional and con- temporary forms which is only now begin- ning to ease. This has implications for Britain also where Indian and South Asian dance generally cannot realistically hope to insulate itself from the diversity of dance practice.
The current Indian Summer season at The Place displays a range of the various Indian styles — Kathak, Bharata Natyam, Odissi. On the opening night we saw Nahid Siddiqui and Musicians in a programme dedicated to the work of the 13th-century poet and musician Amir Khusrau. Siddiqui is regarded as a major interpreter of the Kathak style. She lives in England but visits India and Pakistan each year. She is a quite beautiful dancer, delicate, subtle and precise. Her movements seem to draw the audience into her story, gently, inexorably. Her face is extraordinary to watch, vivid and yet retaining a secretive quality at the same time. The simplest gestures of the head or the hands are invested with an almost hypnotic power. Her musicians were outstanding, particularly the virtuoso Sarwar Sabri on the tabla, and Srikumar Banerjee on the sarod.
Sanjeevini Dutta and Bisakha Sarker's programme presented a synthesis of clas- sical and contemporary dance. Sanjeevini works mainly in the classical Odissi tradi- tion, while Bisakha Sarker works in the more contemporary dance style of Uday Shankar. In the first piece, `Sarasvati Vandana', choreographed by Kelucharan Mahapatra, the movement looked rather flat and one-dimensional. The synthesis worked best in the collaboration 'The Birds', based on a story from the Up- anishads, where the qualities of the two dancers were well contrasted. Once again the musical accompaniment was excellent, composed and performed by Clive Bell, Vandana Rasgotri and Peter Lockett.
Monisha Patil's programme was aptly entitled 'Confluence', since it was an ambi- tious amalgam of North and South Indian styles. As it was such an ambitious prog- ramme. I would have welcomed a more informative programme note from The Place, which provided one of its terse, inscrutable sheets. The dances narrated stories of the gods and, in one case, an episode from the Mahabharata. The mythology was a little too dense perhaps but Patil's artistry shone through, illumin- ated by the music of Pandit Vishwa Pra- kash. This has been an extremely fine season, with dancing and music of a high order. It's a challenge and stimulus not just to the audience but to the critic as well.
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