A Season of Dance
The first edition of the month-long dance season organised by the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) in Mumbai is reminiscent of Chennai’s Marghazhi, but better. Running from January 13 to February 17, the programme for the season has been curated by renowned dancers Uma Rele and Gayatri Subramaniam. It offers a mix of performances, lecture-demonstrations, workshops, talks and panel discussions on not just classical dance, but also on seven different Indian folk traditions.
For Swapnokalpa Dasgupta, the NCPA’s head of dance programming and a respected dancer herself, that was an important goal. “Three years ago, I realised that the dates of many important performances were clashing in Mumbai. So I decided to reach out to the organisers and see if we could all work together as a community,” she says. Instead of two conflicting Bharatanatyam performances on the same day, the idea was to offer a choice of different forms. “The response from both dancers and organisers was wonderful,” she says.
The events will take place at various venues, including the NCPA, the Nehru Centre, the Sangit Mahabharati and P.L. Deshpande Auditorium, among others. Dancers and scholars will address topics ranging from stage lighting and make-up, to the #Metoo movement, misogyny and exploitation in Indian dance.
Sociologist Dr Gita Chadha will moderate the session on #Metoo , an issue that has gained prominence recently, with many established artists revealing their experiences with sexism and sexual assault from their dance gurus. “We cannot deny that exploitation is something that goes on in every field,” says Dasgupta. “In my opinion, it is about how we condition people. Thankfully, we are now in a generation which has started questioning and taking actions. The discussion is only a starting point.”
The finale at the NCPA will feature performances by Kalyanasundaram Pillai, Uma Dogra, Deepak Mazumdar and other notable artists on the guru-shishya parampara (student-teacher tradition). “The more I see, the more I want to see. It is important to watch others. It helps you grow, and not limit your growth to your style or your dance school,” Dasgupta adds.