It was drizzling when I got into my car the morning of March 12th. With low visibility and wet roads, driving down 360 felt like an adventure in itself. Even though I've driven down to the venue multiple times before, my GPS pointed out a new and apparently shorter way to get to the school. As I drove through the thick fog, with the rhythmic back and forth swishing of the windscreen wipers against the rain, I thought of the topic that I was invited to be a part of. Women in Dance! I thought of the National Women's History Month seminar that was unfolding at the private school that had invited me to be a part of their 'Women in Dance' workshop. I thought of all the women who had to navigate tempestuous and often dangerous paths in search for hope and acceptance. I thought of women who fought hard to be heard, of women who gave up their lives trying, of women who still continue to struggle. All for the sake of opening the doors of opportunities wide for us today! I thought of how important it was to honor their work; the freedom they have won for women world over with their words, courage, conviction of thought and action, and above all their perseverance. I thought of the women in my life. I thought of myself and my two girls... and the girls they will raise and support one day... and just like that I was struck by the realization that driving through that relentless fog was the perfect metaphor to what all those women before me, and the women around me today, would have experienced and will continue to experience as we sojourn through the fog of our circumstances to find our voices as we journey on to our destinations, fearlessly...
Finally arriving at the gorgeous campus, I parked and walked to meet with Laney, the talented young freshman dancer who was to lead the workshop on 'Women in Dance'. I had read through Laney's discussion points earlier and was quite thrilled to see how much thought she had put into the issues that she wanted to shine a light on. From gender disparity to the prejudice that dancers of color have to face, the topics were thought provoking and essential. 12 of us gathered in a circle on the proscenium stage of the theatre. Our group consisted of 4 students who were dancers and 8 who weren't. I was also pleased to see that two young men had joined the group. And I must add that I was most eager to listen to their views on the topic. Laney opened the discussion with 'The Panchakanya Project', a production that I'm currently working on that involves the retelling of the stories of 5 mythological women by 5 female dancers of today. It's a study into finding our voices as a community and giving ourselves the permission to listen to stories of women, as told from the female perspective. Often these narratives, have been told and retold reflecting societal pressures that these women lived under. Sometimes it becomes easier to break those barriers of the written or spoken word by being able to dance your story. And that is what Indian classical dance allows you to do - dance your stories. Laney chose to start with this topic to ponder upon the fact that women in ancient India were allowed to express themselves through their dancing traditions and while it was only recently that modern women could express themselves individually through the improvisational freedom asserted through newer styles like modernized ballet, contemporary dance etc. 'What are your thoughts?', she asked. As each participant expressed her / his views, I looked around the circle, pleased to find myself amongst a group of very engaged teenagers, many who were not trained dancers and yet were in serious contemplation about the value of classicism in dance versus being allowed the freedom to express oneself through modern dance. As the kids exchanged views, it quickly became apparent that while they all unanimously agreed that we should value and respect tradition, it was also important to move away from practices that restricted personal growth and freedom to express oneself as an artist.
I've often thought of all artists, dancers included, as those who shoulder the responsibility of being the ones to hold up a mirror to society. When Laney quoted the famous 'Frank and Ernest' cartoonist Bob Thaves's caption about how Ginger Rodgers had to do everything Fred Astaire did but backward and in heels and then asked the question 'What does this say about our heteronormative culture?', we embarked on a journey that took at through various unscripted topics. We traversed quickly through gender biases and landed on the topic of male dancers and why there were so few of them. We spoke of body image issues that dancers face. We spoke of the ideal dancing body and how dancers struggle to fit into the mould that is carved out for them in order to be 'successful'. The dancers in the group spoke of how they had to be of a certain body type to do a particular style of dance. They spoke of injuries that they had to deal with and how they had to move away to other styles of dancing that worked better with their body types. We spoke of respecting the limitations of our physical form. We spoke of the extreme hard work that dancers put their bodies and minds through. We spoke of the responsibility of the audience in shaping public expectations of what a dancer should look like. We spoke of Misty Copeland and how racism is inherent in the dancing world. We spoke about breaking down barriers of color by learning to admire the artistic intention that is projected using the human form. We spoke of the Rockettes Corp and of their, to quote their spokesperson 'an eerie celebration of whiteness'. I secretly let out a sigh of relief as everyone seemed to agree that the color or gender of the dancer was irrelevant to them.
We then spoke of what is considered beautiful. 'Who defines beauty?', I asked at some point. The answers were very insightful. The role of social media and influencers came up and about how beauty is ephemeral and how while there are some who are considered universally beautiful, there are others' whose beauty is defined by standards set forth by influencers. I thought this was an interesting moment to ask one of our young gents as to what they thought about the concept of female beauty and if men played a role in defining or shaping the female beauty ideal. And what I got was truly a remarkable response. The young man responded thoughtfully... about the acceptance of attraction between men and how men aren't pressured to define beauty in terms of the female form alone anymore and that it not only liberates the concept of beauty but also means that women have finally gained ownership of the narrative around female beauty. We are all responsible, we concluded, in changing the way the world perceives and defines beauty. We are all responsible for changing the way society accepts dancers.
I walked away with many thoughts... of how dancers are more than pretty and lithe beings that float gracefully around a stage.
That dancers are more than a body type or a skin coloring...
That dancers are not to be limited by their gender...
That dancers are more than beautiful dancing bodies that move across space and time...
That dancers are artists who create beautiful works of art using their bodies and minds...
Dancers have the power to move you because they know how to reach into the depths of your heart. And they know this only because they are delicate, vulnerable humans who have chosen to be our most intimate reflections of ourselves. To accept a dancer and his / her art is to accept yourself!
Sruthi Mohan
March 21, 2019