After a long gap I came to write something in my blog which incidentally was started some 13 years ago with a massive support of readership running to 12,000 at one stage (remember online platforms and social media were not as popular as now in 2007 when I started this blog dedicated to Bharathanatyam knowledge.
A decade and more later and after a massive upsurge in number of professional artists coming into the picture and the many of the old time favourite dancers gracefully exiting, the scene is completely transformed in favour of the dance, which is what I ultimately think is the best thing that happened to traditional art.
The Corvid 19 pandemic has brought a completely new dimension to the change in the dance scene with the platform shifting completely online. And how!
As far as I can see and observe, the first drove of entrepreneurs moving into the online space has come from the music and dance fields, worldover and India having a rich tradition of dance and vocal culture is not lagging behind.
Many of the top artists themselves have content rich pages in their name, not to mention hashtags in Instagram, facebook and other choice social media. Also there has been a sharp increase in number of neutral platforms, for dance performances and event management. There are dedicated sites for the photographers, music support, choreography and of course dancers themselves. Most of these are promoted by professional artists and sometimes also from outsiders sensing an opportunity. I will attempt to list some of the prominent platforms in the next post of mine.
I want to mention two artists today now that I have begun to write this post. One of whom I just watched live at @thelasya , Shereyesi Gopainath
The artist describes herself " I am a young Bharatanatyam dancer and teacher based out of Delhi. Bharatanatyam enthralled me as a child and by the age of seven I started formal training under the guidance of Padma Shri Guru Saroja Vaidyanathan. By the time I was fifteen, I was selected to undergo formal training at the renowned Kalakshetra Foundation, Chennai. Six years of learning under renowned gurus and a post diploma under my belt, I moved back to New Delhi. Guru Jamuna Krishnan has been my guide and mentor in Delhi ever since. Currently I am establishing myself as a professional Bharatanatyam dancer and teacher. I have performed across geographies, India and abroad. And to teach is the path I have chosen to keep alive the rich and diverse tradition & cultural heritage of India."
Shreyesi's performance today was flawless and was elegant in its simplicity, considering there was no professional stage, nor was there any make up artiste to help out. Her performance was quite riveting throughout and one didn't realise that it was on online mode and in the laptop one was watching her show.
Her performance seem ti have been well choreographed and even the camera angle (static camera) and the space for her dance were all clearly marked, something many online performers need to notice and make adjustments so that you don't see brooms lying casually, a hand and a leg and sometimes even the head getting cut off as they go out of the camera range. More of this later
Online dancing is intimidating at first and most artists who have not used their you tube channels effectively would find it even more challenging and professional agencies do help in this sphere. I really do not know at this stage what is the business model but it should be good considering that there are sponsors and google adshare revenue.
Going forward it would be helpful for artists to not just have their own webpage or facebook page but also a you tube channel which is in public domain which definitely gets noticed. The world of dance and music also has its own stranglehold by entrenched vested interests and I strongly believe that online advent may checkmate these leeches from exploiting the budding artists.
The second artist I want to mention, whom I watched for the first time today and was completely floored by her performance and grace. I am talking about Harinie Jeevitha. In a long time I had not seen such elegance and ease of performance on stage. Completely smitten by the young artist i spent the next two hours researching her and even came across a very beautiful documentary on Harinie Jeevitha (something rare to happen to any artists of her youth, considering the way the world of dances operate) and also an interview that brought out the intellectual in her and the grace of a self contented artist (once again very rare in the world of classical dance). Harinie was grace personified in the interview with the interviewer becoming clueless as to what to ask the dancer next.
I am definitely sure that I would be writing more about this particular artist who also received the praise of her Guru Dr Sheela Unnikrishnan of Sridevi Nrithayala, who in no un-mistaken terms mentioned her as the protege who may continue to run the Nrithalaya which she nurtured and built over 35 years. This possibly is the best ever endorsement any artist could have received at such an young age.
There is a beautiful hasta alarippu video that she had posted which is a must to see for any beginner and also a professional. It is amazing to say the least.
