This happened at a recent dance performance. My make-up done and costume in place, I waited in the green room, ready to start. However, the organisers nonchalantly came and told me that the programme would be postponed for an hour, as our ‘VIP’ Chief Guest had been unfortunately caught in the Delhi traffic. I tried to smile understandingly…concealing my frustration at having to wait so long in a sultry green room. I was soon bored, and decided to switch on the television - the mode of relaxation for many. As I flipped the channels, little did I know that this would be the first time that I would be writing an article while waiting backstage!
For me, dance has always evoked a sense of passion (even ecstasy), dignity, discipline and, in general, a most positive feeling. I have always felt good and happy while at a dance performance. But that day, the wait seemed to frustrate me. As I flipped an old one-rupee coin carelessly, it landed on the table such that it revealed its darker side. That seemed to reinforce my ‘negative’ mindset. I began to visualise what dance should not be. The television, as if on cue, was showing visuals of a bunch of drunken men prancing on a dance floor while guzzling cans of beer. I instantly remembered another occasion, when a group of gangsters, perhaps from the ravines of Chambal, were firing in the air and greeting heavily made up and skimpily dressed women, who were dancing ‘suggestively’ to an ‘item number’. The rowdy elements then joined them on stage, shoving wads of currency notes into their blouses. I had seethed in anger at this act of disrespect and disdain. Enough, I said to myself. There should be no more negative thoughts before my dance performance. The TV remote landed me providentially on a channel featuring the TV classic Mahabharata. I sure could do with divine positivity before my show, I told myself.
I scribbled some thoughts on a piece of paper. It was clear that dance, that elixir, could also be portrayed negatively. I decided that my judgment on dance could wait for later, when I would outline the modern negativity in dance. The Chief Guest had arrived and it was time for the first curtain call. The next one hour proved to be the greatest leveller. I essayed the role of Goddess Durga. Armed with a trident, I pushed the demon Mahishasura to the ground. As he lay under the sharp edges of the trident, I paused. On his face flashed the images of those whom I had seen disrespecting dance. I told myself that I was not celebrating the death of just a demon, but also of all the negativity that dance could surely do well without.
The writer is a renowned Kuchipudi danseuse and choreographer
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