Research in Dance – Possibilities and Challenges - Part 3

Another dimension that dance research can explore is to understand and analyse the correlation between music and dance. Music is essential for the successful staging of a dance piece. The two go hand in hand and are both subservient to Rasa. We must understand how the three octaves and the three speeds present in music – an auditory medium, translate into movement into the visual medium of dance.[1]

Studies must be undertaken that can correlate the gamakas in music to recakas in dance. Similarly, it is important to understand how something in the movement vocabulary can be translated into the movements of the musical notes.

Nāṭya (theatrical art) is completely dependent on lyrics while nṛtta (non-referential dance) is absolutely independent of lyrics. Nṛtya is in the middle of this spectrum spanned by nāṭya and nṛtta at its extremes. It is both dependent and independent of the lyrics of the song. Research in the field of dance will have to determine the manner in which the amount of lyrics can be optimized for different modes of presentation. The researcher will also have to understand how the inherent metrical pattern of the lyrics can be translated into rhythm of music and dance.

Let us now move to sāttvikābhinaya. There is a misconception that facial expressions alone constitute sāttvikābhinaya. Mere movement of hands or display of gestures one after another is hardly beautiful and cannot capture the audience’s hearts. There must be sattva filled in every part of the body and it must be predominantly seen on the face. We have to analyse the role played by the eyes that are like the focal points on the face. Similarly, the contribution of the different parts of the face in enhancing the sāttvikābhinaya under different contexts need to be examined. Research on this topic cannot simply be theoretical in nature but will have to be accompanied by practical presentations.

There is a need to understand the influence of cinema on classical dance forms today. Movies can be called the ‘folk’ art of the modern day, for it gets the maximum audience and can reach the lay and the learned alike. Similarly, though there has been some research analysing the influence of classical dance on films, there is a lot more that can be done. People who take up research in this direction must have a thorough understanding of the Nāṭyaśāstra.

It is also possible to undertake research from a historical perspective. Textual criticism is an important field of research that goes to the original sources, examines the different manuscripts, and tries arriving at a common, useable and critically edited version. Scholars can work on preparing the critical editions of treatises on the aesthetics of classical dance and music. Translating such treatises can also be a challenging task. The researcher who takes up these tasks should be well-versed in the language in which the treatise is written, should have thorough knowledge of all allied disciplines, and should have developed the skill of textual criticism. He must also examine if the aspects recorded in the chosen treatise are in practice today or if they have lost relevance. If they are relevant, why have they been retained by the artistes and the connoisseurs? And if they are not present, why and when did they get lost? Such questions must be answered through the course of the research. If some aspects mentioned in the treatise have undergone a metamorphosis and are present in a new form today, the researcher will need to understand why such a change took place and has to give an aesthetic reasoning for the same. For example, the following questions can be analysed by a dance researcher – How did Cāṣagati, a Bhūmicārī get transformed into sarikkal-aḍavu of Bharatanatyam today? What are the similarities and differences between what is expounded in theory and what is actually practised? How did Mṛgapluta-cārī lose its detailed movement and why has it diminished today? What is gained or lost because of this?

 

There are several oral traditions that are still in vogue in India. A researcher can try to understand how the oral traditions agree with the written treatises and also determine where and how the two diverge from each other. The oral traditions must also be documented by capable scholars who have a practical perspective in addition to theoretical robustness.

There seem to be some semblance between the movements of the tribal people during their hunting expeditions and the theatrical forms of art of the particular region. These have to be documented and meticulously studied

The mutual impact that the foreign forms of dance and the traditional dance forms of India have had on each other can be yet another interesting area of study.

 

Bharata makes a profound statement about the manner in which Rasa is evoked. He says “vibhāvānubhāva-vyabhicāri-saṃyogād-rasaniṣpattiḥ,” the combination of vibhāva, anubhāva, and vyabhicaari-bhāva acting together in the right proportion evokes Rasa. Keeping this statement in mind, a researcher can analyse the nature of bhāva, anubhāva, vibhāva and vyabhicāri-bhāva that play their role in evoking different Rasas. At this point, I would like to share one of my humble attempts in this direction. I spent about two years trying to understand the kind of uddīpana-vibhāvas that work towards evoking the śṛṅgāra-rasa. If just one kind of vibhāva, namely uddīpana, needed two years of constant work, it becomes obvious to the reader that all other rasas and the elements associated with them will demand similar amount of time for doing satisfactory research. The manner in which the thirty-three vyabhicāri-bhāvas defined by Bharata contribute to the enrichment of the sthāyi-bhāvas is something that can take years of study to understand. Similarly, the transformations a particular vyabhicāri-bhāva will need to undergo when it serves different rasas has to be studied as well. Similarly, what vyabhicāri-bhāva does well with which of the sthāyi-bhāvas and in what proportion will need to be studied. It is all the more important to have dance presentations as an outcome of this kind of research rather than doing it merely with pen and paper (or a computer).

India is rich in sculptures that are frozen moments of dance movements. There is no other country in the world that can compete with India in the quantity and quality of dance sculptures. Such sculptures are found in different forms in different regions of the country. Researchers interested in this field of study will need to have a good knowledge of temple architecture, śilpa-śāstra, history of art, and must have witnessed a wide spectrum of regional dance styles. This is an inter-disciplinary study. There are many dancers and scholars who have already left their footprints on this path. It is important to study their works in detail and see if there is still some scope to pursue research in a certain direction.

Just as different media work towards transcending their limitations, dance too has worked in expanding its framework and at times, gone beyond the expected lines. There is a dire need in analysing the extent to which such attempts are meaningful and aesthetically appealing. The analysis should be carried out with an objective mind that is not influenced by personal preferences or biases. There is also a need to preserve the traditional method of reviewing a dance performance while bringing in novelty to the methodology. Doing away with whatever we already possess merely for the sake of novelty isn’t a good idea. A detailed study about the manner in which dance criticism should be done and how the artistes must receive it has to be carried out.

The performances of stalwarts have not been particularly well studied from the backdrop of Indian aesthetics – though their performances have been greatly appreciated, they have not been documented. It would be worthwhile preparing a thesis that talks about the shades of difference brought about by stalwarts through their performances. There can be exclusive studies undertaken on the works of Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam, Yamini Krishnamurthy, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Kelucharan Mohapatra, and other stalwarts. These dancers have brought about a creative revolution in their chosen arts. Though it might be slightly difficult to procure data connected with all their performances, putting efforts in this direction will certainly be worthwhile. Moreover, such a study will throw light on the manner in which different dancers depict the same concept. It helps us understand the manodharma of the artiste and what kind of background has shaped their particular line of thought.

There are innumerable possibilities for research in dance. Just as there is no end to learning as long as man is alive, there is no end to research in dance as long as there are people passionate about art.

 

Appendix

The following are some of the other directions that research in classical dance can take:

• Analysis of the existing material available for the preparation of costumes; the manner in different kind of materials can be aesthetically used for making costumes light in weight with greater durability

• A detailed documentation and analysis of light and sound systems available and their employment to enhance the aesthetic of nāṭya without compromising on sāttvikābhinaya

 

The following can be a few potential questions for research as well:

Daily Life and Dance

• How do movements of daily life graduate to become artisteic expression in dance?

• Is it possible to adopt new movements? If so, how?

• If there is an appeal in a movement, where is the appeal? What feature makes it arresting? What gives me joy?

 

Religion and Dance

• How does religion affect the aesthetics of dance?

• What kind of value at the level of form and content are added by religion to a form of dance?

(Such an analysis will need an objective approach, without any fanaticism)

 

History and Dance

• How have different periods of the political history of a country helped in shaping a dance form?

• How have the form and content changed in different time periods?

 

Anthropology and Dance

• How have movements evolved with time?

• Why are some movements region specific? What aspect of evolution has caused such specificity?

 

Study of the Contribution of the Masters

• How have stalwarts of dance added value to their genre? What are the elements that can be imbibed and propagated?

• What are the shortcomings in the performances of the stalwarts?

 

In addition to this, an objective evaluation of the existing works on aesthetics needs to be undertaken. Artistes and researchers need to go beyond just extracting information from treatises and put efforts to do value analysis.

A serious study of Bollywood dance, break dance, and light dance found in various parts of India needs to be undertaken.

The most important aspect for a dancer is to introspect and analyse her own experience.

 

Concluded.

This series of articles is authored by Shatavadhani Dr. R Ganesh and have been rendered into English with additional material and footnotes by Arjun Bharadwaj. The article first appeared in the anthology Prekṣaṇīyaṃ, published by the Prekshaa Pratishtana in Feburary 2020.


[1] The three octaves, which are called ‘sthāyis,’ are mandra, madhyama, and tāra; the three speeds are vilambita, madhyama and druta.

 

 

 

Author(s)

About:

Dr. Ganesh is a 'shatavadhani' and one of India’s foremost Sanskrit poets and scholars. He writes and lectures extensively on various subjects pertaining to India and Indian cultural heritage. He is a master of the ancient art of avadhana and is credited with reviving the art in Kannada. He is a recipient of the Badarayana-Vyasa Puraskar from the President of India for his contribution to the Sanskrit language.

Translator(s)

About:

Arjun is a writer, translator, engineer, and enjoys composing poems. He is well-versed in Sanskrit, Kannada, English, Greek, and German languages. His research interests lie in comparative aesthetics of classical Greek and Sanskrit literature. He has deep interest in the theatre arts and music. Arjun has (co-) translated the works of AR Krishna Shastri, DV Gundappa, Dr. SL Bhyrappa, Dr. SR Ramaswamy and Shatavadhani Dr. R Ganesh

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