Saturday 20 September 2014

Instinct and Questions form the basis for change and evolution- Bharatanatyam Dancer Savitha Sastry


Here is a very valuable advise, but first I need to thank Savitha Sastry ji for sharing her experience with us. She came across a young girl who wanted to know why Bharatanatyam (as she felt) is not as exciting to her peers as say western dance. Savitha explains how in fact Bharatanatyam is exciting.. A complete answer. Perhaps the same question that this young girl posed to her mom is with all classical dancers...

I liked the way Savitha addressed the question.. read about how she addressed the query in her own words


I had an interesting conversation with a mother and her preteen daughter in Mumbai last evening after my show. The preteen is preparing to present a small Bharathanatyam piece in a group ensemble at her school. However, she questioned her mom about her piece (traditional Bharathanatyam) not being as exciting as the other presentations (more Western) to her peers. 

   The mother assured her that while on the surface, Bharathanatyam might not "excite", it leaves a deeper impression. My question is - does it? If it did, would the child's observation of her peers be unjustified? My advice to the preteen was - don't ever let go of that question or of Bharathanatyam, but make Bharathanatyam exciting, so your peers sit up. They jointly said - we now know how to do that after watching Yudh. 

   My way may not be the answer for everyone, but your instincts and questions form the basis for change and evolution. Never ignore them and allow complacence in the name of "tradition" to supersede these instincts. Please feel free to share questions with me on this forum, when they arise..


savitha sastry, bharatanatyam, yudh, sep2014, papers, (C), do not copy, copyrights acknowledged