‘Dancers, like musicians, have to align to a pitch’

Renowned Bharatanatyam exponent Malavika Sarukkai says that classical dance in the modern era, is becoming infected with mediocrity. She feels it is due to the pressures and distractions faced by the new generation, short cuts in teaching and the descent of dance into entertainment.

Sarukkai says, “Dancers, like musicians, have to align to a pitch; they cannot rely solely on external cues on stage. We have to locate the ‘Tambura’, this pitch,

My observation is that we see a lot of dance but not ‘dance’, there is no immersion MALAVIKA SARUKKAI, DANCER

within us. It needs a lot of focus and hard work. It bothers me that these days people have given up finding this ‘sruthi’, which is why a lot of performances are so mediocre.” Sarukkai, who was awarded the Padma Shri in 2003, says she longs “to see younger dancers who are extraordinary” and performances where the audience come out “moved, and a bit lightheaded”.

She decried the creeping mediocrity in all forms of dance, because of the culture of instant gratification and dancers not putting in long-term efforts to find themselves as artists. “I’m not interested in making classical dance entertainment, which is largely what it has been reduced to today. You have to divert the attention of the audience to the wisdom and truth around us,” she added.

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