Dancers changing the face of Bharatha Natyam
THE SARVAVIDYA Natyaalaya – run by three “wildly passionate” feminist dancers and artists – has just won the Humanities and Social Sciences award in Best Public Performance for the production Bhumi|Earth.
The dance production, which was staged at the Lesedi in Johannesburg and brought awareness of the effects of the climate crisis through Bharatha Natyam, was choreographed, produced and directed by Anusha Pillay, Reshma Chhiba and Panna Dulabh, and performed by their performance wing – the Sarvavidya Dance Ensemble.
“We come from a long legacy of Bharatha Natyam training,” said Chhiba, who, together with Pillay and Dulabh, opened the school in Gauteng in 2010.
“We are spiritual gangsters, who love all things dance, music, art, spirituality and activism. We are also passionate about womanhood, education, healing and saving our planet.”
Chhiba said the award was acknowledgement of not only their work but of Bharatha Natyam itself.
“It is truly affirming to have Bharatha Natyam recognised within the broader creative and humanities sector. This recognition allows for the practice of Bharatha Natyam to be seen and acknowledged outside of its known spaces, and engaged by a broader and more diverse audience.
“We have staged several productions over the years, including Sati: Shiva's Beloved, SHrEe: I am Shakti; and SHrEe: I Am More Than Just My Body and Bhumi comes out of this very trajectory of production.
“We have always seen the expression of Indian dance as a form of beauty, storytelling and even activism. However, Bhumi was also the moment in
which we really pushed the limits of our own approach to dance, and it was an extremely difficult and humbling work to make.
“Bhumi has been in the making since before the Covid-19 pandemic, so it took on different moments of thinking and making because of the many moments of shift in the world.
“It is special because it has challenged us more than any other work that we have ever done. It is deeply physical and spiritual in its relation to the body and how the body occupies the earth.”
She said Bhumi had not attracted the “traditional Indian audience” when it was staged.
“We often staged productions at the Lesedi in the hope of attracting a different audience, but we have not always been successful. However, because Bhumi's message crossed the barrier from traditional movement to contemporary issues, that is climate justice, it opened space for a completely different audience. This included climate justice activists and artists from different art disciplines. Each night we concluded the performance with a discussion with climate justice activists, which allowed the audience to make real life connections to the crisis that we still face. Not only was the diversity of audience based on age and race, but also the sectors from which people came.
“Many children engaged the stage as if it were a storybook. Climate activists came to join us in our plea, and others came to simply enjoy and be moved by the emotions of the dance and message. This is not something we often witness in an audience of a Bharatha Natyam programme.”
Chhiba said it was vital these days to think about what one could do with Bharatha Natyam as a style of dance in South Africa, so it does not stagnate and remain in a continuous pattern of repetition of old works.
She said while it was important to promote classical Indian dance such as Bharatha Natyam, showcasing dancers in Bharatha Natyam costumes was counterproductive. “In South Africa, there seems to be a tendency to think that Bharatha Natyam can only exist in one way, that is, a traditional way. Part of this means that we are always just told ‘oh you look so beautiful in your costume’, yet people who practise Bharatha Natyam understand the rigour that it requires and the amount of work that the body is doing.
“The costume is a mere trimming, but the audience often gets distracted by this. So, while we are aware of costuming and what it signifies, even in our design of these outer elaborations, we are thinking conceptually.
“If we are shifting the movement, then we are also shifting the image of the body, what covers the body, and how the body moves in that covering (costume). Hence, the move away from the stereotype of what Bharatha Natyam supposedly is, is important. It cannot and should not exist as a singular thing, otherwise we are just repeating what has been done and not thinking creatively.
“And after all, Bharatha Natyam is about telling stories. We should be creative in how and what we tell.
“Tradition and foundation are important, and are the basis of every production we make, but we also cannot be stuck in the 1950s. We should be challenging ourselves as Bharatha Natyam dancers to think outside the box, outside the stereotype. This is not India. There is no need to mimic India.”
Chhiba said they hoped to restage Bhumi in Johannesburg and travel to other parts of the country.
“We continue to apply to arts and dance festivals in the hope that the work will find its place in the contemporary art/dance ecosystem.”
Sarvavidya Natyaalaya has a few projects in the research phase, some, she said, that hinged on older works and were seen as the next chapter.
“But for now, we focus on our teaching. Our philosophy has always been about community-based work.
“We teach and create in the community. We see dance as a means to uplift and give expression to young voices.
“So it is important for us to continue our teaching in our small community and allow young dancers to gain a strong foundation in traditional Bharatha Natyam, after which we are able to teach them about the expansion of the form.
“We continue to work on refining and perfecting our own practice of Bharatha Natyam and Bhumi itself, trusting that the work will find its way to the stage once more.”