Dance Research – Significance and misconceptions

Dr. Shobha ShashiKumar  – is an acclaimed Bharatanrithya danseuse, choreographer, researcher, teacher and a writer. She is trained  under the renowned gurus Smt. Shanti Rammoham (disciple of renowned Dancer Smt. Kamala)  and Kalashree Smt. Revathi Narasimhan( a gifted choreographer) who shaped her into a matured artiste. Later she  got trained in the technique of Nritta Karanas of the Natya Shastra under the  tutelage of Late Smt. Sundari Santanam, an eminent dancer and researcher(disciple of the lengendary Dr. Padma Subramaniam). Shobha was awarded the Doctorate degree from the Bangalore university ; was the recipient of the Junior and Senior research fellowships from the University Grants Commission for the research work. Lessons of Natya Shahstra and Alankara Shastra from  Shatavadani Dr. R. Ganesh has groomed the research and practical abilities of Shobha.

She is currently serving as a guest lecturer at the Jain University at the Department of Performing Arts and also as a Guide for MA Dissertations and Mphil, PhD Programs at the University. Shobha has performed extensively as a solo artiste featuring her Research Productions also  and in groups at all major festivals and sabhas  and won rave reviews. She has won many awards including State and National awards. She has presented lecdems and research papers at the National and International seminars some of which have been published. Her latest book is ‘Natyamritavarsha’ which gives the Natya technique of Dr Padma Subhramaniam. She runs her dance institution “ Mayuri Nruthya Shala” at Arekere, Bangalore. The students are taught practical classes backed by the right understanding of  historical, literary and artistic values.  Shobha has presented the arangetram of her eight  disciples and has won accolades for the special choreography technique of the pada varnams. She trains many other senior dancers  in the technique of karanas of Natyashastra and has also guided students  for dissertation from different universities. Shobha has a natural flair for writing and has penned a few poems. We proudly acknowledge her for her immense support towards Noopura Bhramari. Being a Performance wing director she has shared her write-ups, research papers, recitals and also guiding faculty for many programmes and Natyashastra course.

Nowadys, Bharatanatya has become most popular form but  layman opine that it often not able to communicate effectively to anybody. But as if refuting this opinion, Dr. Shobha’s dance would reach effortlessly even to any common man not initialised into the technique; as her wide studies include concepts of Natya Shastra, Alankara Shastra, Poetics and Vedanta which have been learnt, understood and the essence applied to the technique of dance impactfully. As of today, to have systematically learnt the Karana technique of Natya Shashtra, and researched fruitfully on those applications in her PhD work; she is the only one in Karnataka. If it is exclaimed that an artiste like herself is one of the rarest, then too it is not an exaggeration. Now onwards she engages herself in educating on the most demanding subject of today – Dance research. Let this column bring more flavours in the field of Research.

– Editor

Dance Research – Significance and misconceptions

‘Dance Research’ seems to be a continuously researched term. It is either probed with suspicion or with doubt or with confusion. Nevertheless, it has been privileged to be caressed by the most brilliant and responsible hands from the past, that it has laid a strong footing for the posterity. The conflict between ‘theory and practice’ is what, that has kept the debate alive till date (whether dance research is mandatory or even essential for that matter for dance practitioners). The need for research does not seem to be questioned in any other discipline whatsoever.

It is true that dance being a performing art, finds culmination and fulfilment only in a performance. But how can the performing art blossom without being backed by thorough knowledge of the related things? The body, which is the instrument of communication for a dancer, has to be trained vigorously to be able to access the world of stylised gestures. Similarly, the intellect has to be fed sumptuously with good data of the related things, that has to be further assimilated and digested into wisdom. Else, the performing art that is supposed to be vibrant with life and inspire, will be reduced to a mass of dry and dead technique that has neither any connectivity with the artiste himself/herself, nor of course any bearing on the spectator.

The imbalanced focus on clueless expanding horizons of technique, without supported by proper understanding of its actual relatability and scope of accommodation in the wholesome vision of the subject, is leading to unhealthy competition, large scale mediocracy, and growing frustration; especially amongst the young generation, who are the ‘future of dance’.

It is doubtful if the need for dance research in the past was as desperate and indispensable, as it is today. This is because the sophistication in both the technique and technology has boomed without proportion. While this is a welcoming development, it is unfortunate that these techniques are most of the times only roaring and echoing the ignorance of the artiste, whilst they should have been used to glorify his brilliance. Whether it is nritta (non referential dance numbers) or abhinaya (referential dance numbers), there has been widened horizons. While this is commendable, the purport of these are reducing to glorification of the body and intellect. The heart seems to be missing. It is the innocent submission of this heart , that brings lustre to the ‘weight of the intellect’ and beauty to the ‘language of the body’. It is only wisdom, that can do this job; and wisdom dawns with wholesome knowledge and approach, not with lopsided incomplete outlook.

It is to be remembered that even technical betterment in dance has been the result of research only. When this angle of research is realised important; how is that the knowledge of other inseparable limbs to dance is overlooked? Dance being an interdisciplinary art, cannot be comprehended holistically in isolation. Fundamental textual knowledge about primary treatises like the Natya Shastra, Sangita Ratnakara, Abhinaya Darpana (and more if inquisitee) is absolutely essential. An opening for aesthetics in art is a must. For this, a bare minimum of the knowledge of the treatment of the ‘rasa sutra’ of Bharata by the Shastragnas and Alankarikas like Anandavardhana, Abhinavagupta, Kuntaka and many others (if interested) is unavoidable. A general acquaintance to the multifaceted research works of scholars like Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan, Ananda K Coomaraswamy, Dr. Raghavan, Mahamopadhyaya Dr. R. Satyanarayana, Shatavadhani  Dr. R. Ganesh, Dr. Padma Subramaniam, Dr. Choodamani Nandagopal etc., (to mention a few) will render fruitful awareness to the vast possibilities of dance research on the one hand, and serve as guidance for enhancing performance quality. These works (and works of many more eminent scholars) are eternal torchbearers as they have been pioneers in dance research in varied aspects. Even a casual browse through these works leave artistes amazed and spellbound. Every fresh read, carry an ardent seeker to greater depths of understanding and realisations.

It is important at this juncture to clarify what is dance research. Most of the times it is understood as a mere enrolment to an MPhil or a PhD course with a University. It is this derogative thinking that has undermined the significance of it. Most of the times, performing and research are considered to be parallel tracks, practically impossible to be doing both even if interested. So, there has been a conscious effort to pick only either of them! These are the problems with improper understanding.

Research is not a degree! It is a spirit. It is a quality signifying earnestness to know the truth and therefore striving honestly and arduously towards it. In is an incessant onward journey having only a commencement. It is a process of self-purification and thereby enhancing deservedness to be an ‘artiste’. Art has an unexplainable connection with the Self. Any art form is the means to discover that connection and stay tuned. It is the experience of any genuine artiste, that there is a mystical compulsion to be ‘an artiste’, and not become one by any conscious choice. Research is this thirst that can be quenched only by knowing or exhaustively attempting to know, how to unveil this mystery. Art form is only ‘the means’ to this, but in fact, also ‘the only means’ to it. Hence neither is the search for excelling the art form complete, without treating it (the art form) as only ‘the means’; nor is the search fulfilled, without realising that it is (the art form) ‘the only means’. Though this sounds complicated, it is a simple corollary, that they (art form and research) are indispensable to each other.

It would be any ardent performer’s endorsement with the statement that there has to be some freshness in every performance even if it is an age-old choreography. How can there be freshness if the involvement of the mind and thereby a taste for natural imagination be absent? And if it is agreed that imagination emanates freshness of feel, how can there be newer angles to imagination, without constant research (in the spirit of the previous paragraph). To develop the process of imagination, it is necessary to get acquainted with poetic Literature. Works of poetic genius like Valmiki, Veda Vyasa, Kalidasa and others, stand as polestars to give lessons on ‘visual appeal’ which is very important for a visual art like dance.

How can a dancer manage not to know about at least some glimpses of art history? An introduction to the profoundness of the vedic society, the puranic period, the ancient society, the medieval period and the modern society; would sketch the nature of art and the cascading nature of the development of art forms from the ‘marga’  form of ‘natya’ to the  various ‘desi nrityas’. One would be able to reckon the influence, the connection and the diversification from the past to the present. By this, the role of angika, the role of pedagogy in the transmission and the transformation of the angika; will be clearly visible in the form of the ‘journey of the angika’. The interdisciplinary nature of the allied art forms like music, sculpture and painting; makes the knowledge about them imperative for a dancer.

In the words of Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh, ‘Classical art is inclusive in nature, because of which there is variety and freshness, each time the same subject is explored’.

These are just a few things that would help a dancer to go a long way in the visualisation of the greatness of the art form. Sky is the limit for an endearing, enthusiastic and earnest student of art. This realisation inspires the exploration of the artiste in the chosen subject. It is definitely breath-taking to imagine exposure to such a wide range of discipline, but honestly speaking it is inevitable. This study need not be coerced, but lovingly undertaken; as the greatest benefit is nothing short of ‘ the enjoyment’ (which is the very goal of any art), as the very nature of right knowledge is ‘liberating’ and not ‘binding’.  In fact, to be ignorant of all these avenues as an artiste, is suffocating and disgusting. The broad spectrum; charges and kindles fresh energies to explore, discover and recreate. The treatment of the art form in the hands of such an inspired artiste has no bounds.

There is no need to be a customised student of PhD, to be a true ‘Dance Researcher’. World has always witnessed excellence in ‘spirit’ first and then its expression in ‘form’ and not vice versa. So it needs nothing short of the ‘spirit for research’ to be a contributory researcher; and systematically and methodologically approaching research by means of a University Degree though commendable is not inevitable. However, big contributories to pure research in dance, have toiled on many related subjects to dance and Indological studies in general, which have been serving and will continue to serve as all time reference.

(…To be continued)