The challenges facing traditional performing arta are considerable.
Nonetheless, art forms like odissi fulfill aesthetic and metaphysical needs on
multiple levels that will continue to exist, irrespective of how aced life becomes.there
is some concern on whether classical dance forms like Odissi will still have a
place in the new century. Some of the issues and challenges include the
potential dilution of tradition by innovation and fusion, the effects of
institutional learning vs the guru-shishya parampara (teacher-student transmission lineage), the warning interest and
attention spans of audiences raised on television and information technology,
and problems of patronage of professionalism in a market driven economy. The survival
of classical dance in India has probably not been so endangered since the Victorian British passed their
antinautch laws, yet, to use a well-known quotation: News on my death has been
greatly exaggerated. Dance traditions are organic: living, growing and changing
to reflect the society in which we live and to serve aesthetic, intellectual,
emotional and spiritual needs. Change must be both artistically sound and
should sensitively reflect essential shifts in society rather than superficial
or commercial pressures for novelty.
Odissi has successfully
transitioned to the concert stage from the inner sanctums of temples. Now there
are the challenges of adjust to new contexts, including television and even
internet-based media. Experiments in theme, choreography and even venue will
produce a variety of results, some ill-conceived and some that are
aesthetically sound. As new texts, themes and collaborations become more
sophisticated in integral ways, they may find a permanent place in the
repertoire. The spread of odissi outside naturally inspires many artistes to
explore new texts and languages. An invocation to the deity of a particular
site of performance, and even in the local language, is an expansion rather
than a breaking of tradition. Many dancers experiment on choreographing to
non-traditional texts, or using fusion of forms and non -traditional musical
instruments. While those explorations are not always successful, they may
eventually strengthen the organic growth of the tradition. Despite the antiquity
of classical dance in india, they can all be
considered neo-classical owning to the revival and reconstruction of most of
them in the early 20th century.
Issues related to training, nurturing and professional career
viability for the dancer are perhaps more serious challenges than ways that the
classical dance repertoires will develop in the new era. First, dance training
of artistes through the idea of guru-shishya parampara is virtually a thing of
the past. This one-to-one teaching over a length of time, in an atmosphere free
of distractions, ideally allowed the teacher to totally control the student’s development.
Now, imbibing the teachers knowledge and attitude towards life, philosophy and
the performing arts is reduced to primarily technical dance practice, unless
the guru trains his or her own child. Even gurus teaching their own children
have to contend with the demands of school and other interests competing for
the child’s focus.
In the ideal institutional learning situation, students
should be able to depend on developing their art in a situation where the
techniques, theory, performance practice and related areas of music,
philosophy, language, history and fundamentals of the art are structured into a
curriculum and taught by master teachers in each subject. This should create an
atmosphere where the best training is imparted to enough students to maintain
the traditions and obtain exposure and interaction with others to foster a
personal sense of aesthetics, compatible with tradition and creativity.
Unfortunately, this ideal institutional model doesn’t exist. The
potential faults of a guru0shishya parampara have too often been brought into
the instructions: lack of responsibility for nurturing the artiste, selfish withholding
of expertise for personal reasons, disregard of commitments of time and effort
in scheduled classes. Without the benefits of learning under a parental,
dedicated master teacher or a committed pedagogy of an institution, the
prospect of quality artistes than can hold the audience are dim. In fact, looking at the solo performances
of Odissi, Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam, one generally sees senior artistes and
a vast population of fledging young artistes who soon disappear without
developing into a middle level range of professional artistes.
Young dancers come to the stage without the involvement and
depth of training needed to provide a solo performance that can hold an
audience for hours. This results in a chicken or egg situation where the
audiences find traditional solo dance performances quaintly charming and rather
boring after a short time of enjoying the youth and energy of the artiste. Past
practices included introducing a young artiste to performance at puja or
temples programs, then to discerning rasikas, and finally to a wider public. Young
artistes do work hard, but perhaps appear on the stage with more public
relations than is warranted and the confused audience finds that the art is
lacking, rather than the artiste. This is where group dance choreography and new
themes become the most viable solution for interesting performances by dancers
trained within modern constraints.
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