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Sanctification of art
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An Odissi dance exponent, Kiran Segal treats her art as a path to realisation. Maintaining the sanctity of her dance remains uppermost among her priorities.
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RHYME & RHYTHM: Kiran Segal is an exponent of Odissi form, a choreographer and a guru.
IN ONE tries to visualise Odissi as a dance form what comes to the mind is temple sculpture-like stances, Sonal Mansingh or Samjukta Panigrahi. Beyond this, our realm doesn't seem to stretch. Meet Padma Shri Kiran Segal and the whole gamut of Odissi dance unfolds itself leaving us wonderstruck at the depth from which this art emerged.
Her dancing career took shape through Bharatanatyam under four gurus of whom Late Sadasiva Iyer and K.J. Govinda Rajan contributed to her grooming into a dancer of repute. Despite being an accomplished artiste in this south Indian dance genre, somewhere at the back of her mind, she had an ardent desire to master Odissi "partly because it was my mother tongue and partly because it had a rich tradition that I longed to explore,'' she says disarmingly. Being a dedicated artiste she took pains to understand an alien language that formed the content of a Bharatanatyam recital and could never subject herself to meaningless miming and gesticulation in the name of classical performance.
Today Kiran Segal is an exponent of Odissi form, a choreographer and a guru. Running her Pallavi Odissi Nritya Sangeet Vidyalaya in New Delhi, she has contributed to taking the classical art form to new heights and lent a different dimension to it. "Though I have created novel themes like recreating Ramayana using the shadow work technique with 16 as a team, I am a firm classicist. I don't believe in a mixture of styles. I have used contemporary and folk movements but not to the detriment of classical mode. I don't like diluting classical dance for the sake of contemporary audience. Sure, no artist can choose his or her audience. But she or he can sure educate them in a way so as to get their appreciation for the dance form not vice-versa,'' she says emphatically.
Dance has been divorced from the temple where it was originally patronised and performed. But that doesn't mar the sanctity of dance as such is Kiran's theory. She is particular about sanctity on stage. The rang manch is not a mere dias. The moment a lamp is lit, it indicates worship of the five elements of nature, a Vedic concept. The stage gets transformed into a sanctum sanctorium (Garbh Grih). Any show of disrespect to the performing dais is disregard towards god, says Kiran. She was vocally critical of all those who unwittingly got on to the stage in shoes when she was recently invited to perform in Hyderabad. So much for her sense of sanctity for her art.
Having chosen to perfect Odissi, Kiran had to clear her path of trying to perform both the styles at which she is adept by now. She was convinced that she's destined to be an Odissi dancer hence Bharatanatyam took a backseat. As a guru, she believes in first purifying her pupil's mind on the physical plane. A guru according to her should inculcate in his shisya the aspect of cleaning the pooja room, light the diya (deepam), pray and then offer the art to god. This done, the dancer is ready to start learning. Again there is a process to be adhered to. The right naadi (nerve) that goes up to the sahasrara (head) is the acting aspect, the masculine and the left naadi, represents the creative aspect and is the feminine principle. "The surya and chandra jewellery adorning the right and left side of the dancer's hair parted in the centre represents precisely this,'' she clarifies about the adornment and head gear of a dancer. Receptivity is a must for any dancer or else creativity dies a natural death. The mind should constantly evolve in order to perfect and only then can an artiste give her best to her audience.
The audience is actually the patron of art in modern times not the sponsor, she is quick to point out.
To Kiran dance is a yoga, a meditation, a path to realisation. Practice makes a man perfect more so a dancer, she feels. She practices what she professes. And her performance is a testimony to her perfectionist attitude.
Her lithe and graceful movements enliven a Jayadev ashtapadi. Her limbs move in perfect symphony and it is no exaggeration to say that a sculpture on a temple pillar is brought to life when Kiran starts dancing. Her demo lecture to Spic Macay youth recently brought out the wonderful teacher in her, which only a bunch of her students out there in Delhi might know.
She conducts a host of exercises in stance, posture and positioning preparing the pupil for Odissi learning. This would make the limbs flexible and agile. An expert in facial expression, which is the core of dance form as such, Kiran also believes in experiencing the emotion within if it were to be expressed physically through the countenance. Involvement, devotion and dedication are to be developed from the time the first footstep is taught so that the young pupil grows into a sincere performing artist.
At no point of time should mere professionalism dictate art, is Kiran's message to artistes in general. For the moment this creeps in the artist, his art is dead.
Creativity is lost and mere repetition will not help the artiste to survive for long. Though there is a waning in interest to classical dance, Kiran is optimistic about its future judging by the number of new students who join her school every year.
Any number of performances in almost all dance festivals and honours have not detracted the discipline and diligence in Kiran Segal the artiste. Her life is her art and for such there is no looking back.
RANEE KUMAR
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