Interview with Sandhyadipa Kar, dancer of classical Indian dance odissi Sandhyadipa Kar studied odissi from 1982 with an important personality of this dance, Guru Shri Kelucharan Mohapatry, and she became one of his best students. She performs in many countries and now she is coming to Prague for the second time, with the aim to establish a dance group here.
How common and popular is studying and performing odissi and other classical dances in India nowadays?I don’t think studying classical dance is very common across India today nor was it in the past. But I can see more interest in learning odissi in the last 20 years.
To understand the reason why classical dances have been neglected in the past we need to know how the dance was perceived in India historically and perhaps is even today, at some level. Odissi was performed by temple dancers known as Maharis. They never married and dedicated their lives to dancing for the Gods. They performed at night under candlelight and sometime their bodies were clad with ornaments only. Their performance was limited to the eyes of the temple priest and the deities they worshiped. It was outside the knowledge and understanding of the public. Thus the public was left to form their own opinions and sometimes associated the practice with vulgarity and lust and didn´t believe spiritual intentions and motivations of the dancers.
Gradually, as the tradition of Maharis got lost, the dance lost its social prestige. This change took place after the invasion of India by the Muslim rulers, followed by the British colonization. Families did not encourage their girls to learn dance and in general became very conservative about women dancing in public. Sometimes grooms could not be found for girls who considered a career in dance. Performing in public was forbidden. Teaching a class, establishing an institute was allowed but nothing beyond that.
The classical dance started to languish and the form continued to decline. India lost its tradition to some extent. Nevertheless, the attitude about dance has lingered and perhaps influences choices of young people today. Learning odissi requires some effort and long term dedication. Are young people in India still willing to undertake the endeavor?
That’s right, classical dance is about dedication, patience, commitment, devotion and giving time to body conditioning to achieve the stamina needed to perform. It is about perfection and as we all know that requires both time and commitment. Perhaps these are the very reasons we do not see many young people between the ages of 10 and 25 gravitating toward the field.
Also, I think many young people in India with aspirations of dance are more interested in getting immediate results from their efforts and therefore one might see young people participating more in Bollywood dancing because it is considered contemporary and glamorous due it its association with Indian cinema. They want to get in, learn a few steps, and get on stage.
What I would say is that dancers in Bollywood who have had some classical training, tend to do much better in their dancing. I have no hard evidence but it is my observation and belief.
So, I think there will always be an interest in classical dance among the few dedicated artists but usually it will not attract large numbers. Again, I think this is true for most classical art forms. What would you say about your Western students?
Students in the West have the freedom to choose when to engage in the dance. They can take up dance as college students, young adults, older adults… The typical age of my western students is 18 and above and they exercise their own free will in selecting this art form.
We can say they while Indian students more live the culture, western students come to “experience” the culture. Western students are inquisitive, they tend to ask deep questions, require explanation, and demonstration. They are more apt to share with me what they do not understand relative to what is being taught. I immensely enjoy teaching them as I'm fascinated by their desire for more knowledge and by their independent research on the subject in a way to understand more deeply what it is that they are trying to learn.
In a way, I see even more interest in the dance among my western students than in India. They want to know the experience of interacting with a Guru and interestingly it is they who commit themselves to learn the nuances of the relationship between student and the teacher, the Guru. It is quite surprising to see the level at which they express appreciation, love, joy, and devotion to the dance form and the culture that surrounds it.
They are self- motivated, dedicated, and desirous of learning the dance and the culture that surrounds it. For example, some without the benefit of having traveled to India, have made their own costumes, created their own style as it relates to devotion and care for odissi dance. I am very proud of my students and their dedication to odissi dance. When and how has your teaching career started and when have you started performing?
I think, deep down in my heart, I always wanted to be a teacher. I believe it comes from a desire to help others achieve at the highest level and to help them succeed in what they enjoy doing. I also know that my journey into teaching was made possible by my Guru. He observed my skills and trusted me enough to place me as a teacher in his dance institute in Orissa.
I was only 13 years of age when I started teaching the junior group of students enrolled in my Guruji’s institute. Initially, I taught the younger students, but with experience I started teaching the senior students three days a week. I felt it was a tremendous responsibility and I was very nervous, but determined to do an excellent job. I also travelled with my Guru all over India to assist in conducting dance workshops. Teaching helped me to attain perfection as I believe that when you teach, you gain insight and expand skills pertaining to the dance. I believe that this early introduction motivated me to become a teacher and to invest myself in helping others learn and appreciate odissi.
As for performances, my guru decided I was ready when I was twelve. Under his tutelage, I performed throughout India, and traveled to Germany and Russia. It was one of the most exciting experiences of my young career.Before travelling abroad I had thought that Indians were the only ones who could understand and appreciate the story and message conveyed by odissi dance due to their exposure to Indian culture. But in Russia I was amazed to see how people from other culture opened up to the art form of odissi dance and I saw how I could learn and grow by being exposed to others and exposing them to odissi. Since then you have been performing odissi in many countries. Was there any other memorable or exceptional performance you would like to share with us?
My success on stage depends on my ability to strongly and faithfully communicate the emotions of my character as expressed through the posture, gestures and movement of my body, eyes, hands, head and feet. The audience is my focus and my aim is to help them see and feel my character. I'm thinking and trying, at all times, to get the audience to experience their own emotions relative to the theme and content of odissi dance. I'm excited and satisfied when my audience can communicate through applause and conversation that they were with me as one during the portrayal of my character. Finally, when I'm on stage, I always offer my dance to God and perform in honor of my Guruji.
I feel that as a performer on stage, I am blessed at the core with the love, care, and respect from people, who at a certain point, in a certain moment, and for a certain time, are connected with me and I am connected with them. This connection and communication is what I hope for every time I'm on stage. Beyond my time with family, performing on stage and connecting with my audience is my passion.I have collected many precious memories of appreciation of the audience for my dancing. One of them relates to my performance while on tour in Canada in 2001. At that time, I was married and the mother of a young daughter who was 1½ years and on tour with me. On stage, I played the role of Parvati, who is the mother of Ganesha in the Odissi ballet, Jai Sri Ganesha. When I performed the role of Parvati at the age of 15, I had no experience about motherhood, marriage, or any of the things that I could relate to. I just played the character. I carried out the emotions required of the character and I was helped by the fact that I understood choreography very well. However, on stage, in Canada, playing the role of Parvati was heartfelt and real because I was now a mother. The applause of the audience and their interaction with me after the performance, made it amply evident that my emotions were very real and they all felt it. I felt I had reached my audience but this time at a more mature level because I was now a mother. From playing the role of a mother as a child, to playing the same role as the mother of a child was quite revealing in terms of my own maturity. We would like to thank you for accepting our invitation to lead a workshop and performance in June. We look forward to spending time with you and learning.
Indeed it is my honor and blessing to be invited. I am deeply committed to exposing classical odissi dance and culture in Prague. I have been there once and found that people in the Czech Republic have a deep interest in Indian dance styles and desire to experience this art form.
Josef Bartos
Thank you for your thoughts. One got stuck in my mind – that passion makes us different from AI. Just yesterday I read…I am a dance critic. I am a member of an endangered species