Sumitra KC
Dance is an art. Some people dance to express their feelings and emotions. Others find it to be a good medium to narrate a story. During earlier days, dance was considered to be leisure or restricted to entertainment. But the approach changed with time.
“Dance is not at all work for me but it’s the only medium I can be happy without any disguise,” states Snaden D’Souza, the co-founder of Snaden Shawn Dance Academy. Snaden has devoted himself to dance for the past 13years and set up his own dance academy. Education took the centre stage during his school days when dance was not considered to be a career option. Even today, he feels that people don’t take up dance seriously and is considered just a stress reliever. After trying out various other career options, Snaden finally followed his passion for dance.
“Dance is an exhilarating way to experience a state of freedom within yourself,” says Eby John, proprietor of Kaizen Dance Studio. Things take a different turn in life and that is how Eby John landed in the dance field. “I used to work in the media industry or took up some regular jobs after I finished my graduation in journalism and mass communication,” he says. “But then I gave dance a shot at the last moment thinking that I can follow the conventional path later on in life too if I want to. I didn’t want to lose my prime dancing ages.So i switched into professional dancing”, he adds.
Classical dance form is overlooked now a days but there are few dancers who are striving to keep the of authenticity of classical dance. The Kishna brothers, Theodorus Ramjiet kishna and Ronald Suresh Kishna, from the kingdom of Netherland feel that Bharatnatyam, is a complete stage art and gives you an opportunity to dive into your inner self. “For us dance is used to entertain ourselves or others or to reach out to connect your soul with super soul, performing from within as the medium to let the creative energy flow through. This is the aim of our art of classical dance,” say the Kishna brothers, who founded the Arangart-Tanjore Quartet United Arts. “It is in our genes so it went a natural way and the search for the highest quality of dance art brought us to the source itself. Besides this, we are from an artist family. This further exposed us to many arts forms, also the popular ones in Europe,” says the duo.
There are a number of dance academies all over Goa. Younsters are more interested in things that are fast with less effort and dedication to learn.The Kishna brothers say that besides people think that what comes from the western society is always good. “Classical art forms are not followed by masses and that is the reason why Bharatnatyam has not become a mass product in the fast pace of life among other things. Dancers should get the inspiration from within their self not from others or someone,” stress the Kishna brothers. They are of the opinion that they would never convince the youngsters to learn classical dance, the reason being that this art needs their dedication and commitment. However they can stimulate those who truly seek to learn more than only movements. The Indian classical art requires commitment and dedication to master. To be humble and patient is another step towards taking up the art form.
When asked whether the trending fusion dance form has any effects on the authenticity of classical dance, they assured that the fusion form will not make any difference to the classical art form. “You as a performer should be capable to go out of your classical field and come back without losing the authenticity of the classical dance. Instead saying fusion, we would prefer to use the term innovation or blending,” say the Kishna brothers.
Being a dancer, appreciation by the people also plays an important role. There are many programmes or reality shows that artists go to showcase their talents. Eby John opines that reality shows are good for a dancer if he is just looking at it for publicity. “For example, you have an amazing teacher with a lot of knowledge and experience on one hand and if you have an average teacher with not much of knowledge but has been a part of a reality show then the latter would get paid much higher. So if a dancer is looking for increasing his financial worth in future then its good for them. But that won’t last for very long because such kind of fame is short lived,” says Eby who personally wouldn’t prefer to go on an reality show.
Speaking on similar lines, Snaden too doesn’t believe in reality shows. “Its a waste of time and energy. I have been to two or three reality shows and its all TRP based. Ones needs over act, unnecessary build up a story. So whatever one sees on TV, is not actually what happens on the show,” says Snaden who never encourages his students to go on any reality show. Instead he suggested that social media would be the best platform to showcase one’s talent.
