Module 35 Indian Dance in Cis States

PAPER 6 DANCE IN INDIA TODAY, DANCE-DRAMAS, CREATIVITY WITHIN THE CLASSICAL FORMS, INDIAN CLASSICAL DANCE IN DIASPORA (USA, UK, EUROPE, AUSTRALIA, ETC.)

MODULE 35 INDIAN DANCE IN CIS STATES

The strong presence of Indian classical dance is noticeable not just in Russia but equally in the CIS states that broke out from the former Soviet Union. Here too the lead has been taken by ICCR scholars who have been to India and trained long and truly love the art.

Azerbaijan:

Take the case of Azerbaijan, where Oksana Rusulova is trained in the Indian classical dance of Bharatanatyam. Though born in Shabran a town in the erstwhile Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan, in her childhood she moved to Russia and there she learnt Bharatanatyam. In 2001 she created Chandramukhi Dance group and choreographed several pieces. This fluent speaker of Hindi, Azerbaijani and Russian, she won a talent show on a popular TV Channel, and was honoured with a statuette as a ‘Goddess of dance’ by the Indian embassy in Azerbaijan.

Ukraine:

In 1992 Olena Ryzhei founded the club of Indian dance “Saraswati” in Kiev, and later the Saraswati Indian dance school. Olena had

1 graduated from Ganesha Natyalaya institute of music and dance, New Delhi, India as ICCR scholar under guidance of Guru Saroja Vaidyanathan, recipient of the Padmabhushan. The main purpose behind opening this institute is to create a center that would be a crucible of Indian culture, a seat of learning the arts and about the culture of India, “a gift of ancient India to Ukraine”, holds Indian festivals in an environment in which even the local Indian community feels at home. As a centre of learning it offers classes on Indian dance, a library of documentaries and music of India, and a display of Indian costumes and ornaments. For the last 20 years the students of Saraswati Dance School have skilled themselves in classical and folk dances, and have won many awards especially at the All Ukraine Dance Festivals.

Today many seniors students of Saraswati has open their own groups of Indian dance in different cities of Ukraine like: Svetlana Vratskaya, who has opened the Vasanta club in Kiev, Ganna Smirnova who has opened the Nakshatra theatre of Indian dance in Kiev, Victoria Virich who has opened the Oriental club in Lutsk, and Michael Romanov who has opened the Nirananda club in Dnepropetrovsk.

Let us take the case of Ganna to understand the trajectory many such dancers follow. Ganna Smirnova hailing from Kiev in Ukraine had her first glimpse of Indian classical dance during a “Year of India” festival organised in the Soviet Union in 1987. By that time she had 12 years of training in classical ballet as well as in Russian and Ukrainian folk dance behind her. She was also practicing yoga, and familiar with the Upanishads and the history of India.

In 1998 she received the ICCR scholarship to train in India in Bharatanatyam under Guru Smt. Jayalakshmi Eshwar. For the five years that she was in India (1998–2003), she had the intensive learning of Bharatanatyam and practiced the Carnatic Vocal music under Guru Vasantha Sundaram and Chhau under Guru Janmey Jai Sai Babu. Besides she did get introductory knowledge of Kuchipudi under Guru Seetha Naagjyothi in Delhi Tamil Sangam for a couple of years. She was always very active with all the creative activities of her Guru while learning under her and took part in ballet compositions of her guru, and the lectures and demonstrations, and also regularly performed solo concerts in Delhi and other cities of India. Some of her unique and prestigious performances include her performance at the Natyanjali festival the Chidambaram dance festival in the world-famous Natraja Thillai temple, in Kumbhakonam and in the Brihadiswarar temple on the occasion of the celebration of the 1000 years of the temple establishment- a rare honour for a foreign artiste. Ganna Smirnova has participated in the leading dance festivals of India, such as Mahabalipuram dance festival, Modhera Dance Festival, Taj Mahotsava, Rajgir Dance Festival, Uday Shankar Dance Festival, Natyanjali dance festival in Chidambaram and Thanjavur, Bharath Kalachar dance festival, Dasyam festival amongst others. She has practically criss-crossed the entire country while performing in India.

She performs, teaches and researches on Bharatanatyam. Ganna Smirnova has just written a book on the subject of Indian temple classical dances "Indian temple dance – Tradition, legends and Philosophy".

It is the first of its kind in the whole of CIS region and has been very much appreciated by the scholars and academicians for the depth and the quality of the work that is being conducted by her work. She is one of the very few non-Indian artists who have been empanelled under the by the ICCR. Earlier since her childhood, Ganna had been studying ballet and the Ukrainian national dance. As a student she studied eastern philosophy and practiced yoga, Tai-zi-chuan and Shigun. She is the successful Graduate of Jurisprudence from her alma mater Tarasa Shevchenko National University in her academic life and has gone on to defend her PhD from the same university. On her return to Kiev in 2003, Ganna established a theatre of Indian dance, Nakshatra, at the T.G. Shevchenko University. Nakshatra theatre has been ceaselessly working for the promotion of Indian art and culture in Ukraine. Indian Theater Nakshatra conducts lessons of Indian classical dances and yoga, organizes festivals of the Indian classical dance and music, an exhibition of painting of the Indian and Ukrainian artists, lecture- demonstrations and master classes of famous gurus, performance of students, directs students for studying Indian arts in India, carries out lectures and trainings in other cities of Ukraine. Since its inception, more than two hundred students have attended her dance classes; five of them later went to India to improve their techniques and two have started teaching in Ukraine. In the first year after being set up, it organised the Indian dance drama Devadarpana / देवद셍पण. The very next year, along with the help of the embassy of India in Ukraine and the Indian community,

Ganna organized the first international festival of Indian classical dances named Nrityaanjali. The artists came from numerous countries and it was a first of its kind in the whole of the CIS region, as more than 30 amateur groups comprising more than 200 dancers participated in the lecture demonstrations and workshops by artists and scholars, and witness the performances of eminent dancers from Russia, India, Ukraine, Sweden, the Netherlands, Singapore, France. The next year the second edition f Nrityaanjali was organised. The first lady attended and thereafter there has been no looking back. Ganna has been honored by the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine and her dance ensemble Nakshatra has been awarded as the national ensemble category.

Kazakhstan: The most important centre for Indian classical dance in Kazakhstan is the Centre for Indian Classical dance in Almaty. Set up on 1st march, 2006, it teaches Kathak, Bharatanatyam Yoga, Classical Music and Hindi. It celebrates different Indian festivals including birthdays of cultural icons like the birthday of Rukmini Devi Arundale. The Founder Director of the centre, Akmaral Kaizanova, completed her studies from Kalakshetra and Nalanda Dance Research Centre, Mumbai. She is the first and only professional dancer of the Indian classical dance forms in Kazakhstan She has presented three command performances- for Prime Minister Vajpayee in 2002, for Vice President Anasari in 2008 & for Prime Minister Narenbdra Modi in 2015. She has performed Bharatanatyam in Indian, Greece,

Khazakhastan, Kyrgistan, Tajikistan and USA. In 2011 she completed her MA course in Yoga therapy and the MA course in Bharatnaryam from the Madras University. She acquired a diploma in 2013 for Kathak from the Prayag Sangit Samiti. This initiative is supported by the Indian embassy as an example of cultural diplomacy, even though the Embassy has its own Indian Cultural Centre in Astana. Often the ICCR calls troupe from such centres for their Festivals in Delhi and other cities of India. One can imagine the impact when dancers like Lyazzat Polatbek and Rada Olmesekova performed at the Kullu Dussehra Festival as they did in 2013.

The Indian dance teacher at the Indian Cultural Centre in Astana is the Kathak dance teacher - Ms. Lyailya Omarova. She conducted master classes of the Indian classical dance Kathak during the 5th International Summer Creative Session. The Camp was organized by the National Educational Center of Aesthetic Education, Balazhan and Bishkek. Around 450 young students participated in the Summer Camp from different regions of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Russia. Ms. Lyailya imparted training in basics of Kathak dance and taught a Rajasthani Folk dance. The participants showed great enthusiasm in learning about Indian culture.

Tajikistan: Indian actress Madhuri Dixit is a major source of inspiration for Tajik students for learning the dance, said Chakraborty, who began learning Kathak at the age of Over 400 youngsters in Tajikistan

6 have drawn inspiration from Bollywood to learn 'Kathak', with Indian actor Madhuri Dixit considered as 'goddess' in the Central Asian country. Tajikistan. Thus the activities of the Indian Culture Centre are very successful. Regular Kathak dance classes are conducted from Monday-Friday in the Embassy which is extremely popular among the local youths. The students of these classes are very talented and have also been to India to attend professional training in Indian classical dance under ICCR sponsored schemes. Mousumi Saha the Kathak Dance Teacher has been imparting Kathak dance training to Tadjik national in Indian Embassy Culture Centre.

Belarus: Although the formal diplomatic ties between the two sides, namely Belarus and India have a relatively short history, cultural interactions have an interesting past. India's national poet, Rabindranath Tagore visited Minsk in 1931 and met with several leading intellectuals and fellow writers, many of whom admired his poetry. Further, the musician, Nicholas Nabokov, who was born near Minsk, travelled to India in the 1960s and was impressed by India's musical traditions. Several Belarusians have studied Indian classical dance and some of them have started offering lessons to others. Yoga is another aspect of Indian culture that is becoming increasingly popular, and of course Indian films too have been popular in Belarus.

It has been the attachment to films that paved the way for many dancers to pursue their passion in dance. Kathak and Bharatanatyam dancer Elena Sipach, admits that her parents fondness for Hindi films

7 allowed her to get to India to learn Kathak and Bharatnatyam. Today Elena Sipach, heads the ‘Sapna’ Dance Group in Belarus that is famed for its Indian folk, Bollywood and classical dance “Kathak”. The Group has already taken a prominent place in the art and music world in Belarus with the support of the Embassy of India, Minsk.

Another famous dance group in Belarus is the “Indivara” dance group, well known for its Bharatanatyam performance. The art director of the “Indivara” is Lyudmila Khatuleva. Lyudmila is an icon of Indian classical dance in Belarus. The Apsara Indian Dance Group has Elena Tarasova who dances Kuchipudi. Yet another school “Navaratna” is led by Skliarenka Nadezhda and Natallia Vlasova who perform the Indian classical dance Bharatanatyam, Bollywood and “Sarpa” dances and “Indian Fusion”, a mixture of the elements of Indian dance with the dances of different styles. Yoga and the Art of living are also very popular in Belarus.

Challenges Among the challenges across the former USSR are pretty much the same. Above all the costs don’t make it a viable option. So irrespective of how devoted they are to the form that they have learnt in hard circumstances is the fact that they need another more marketable skill. This cuts into their practice time compared to professional dancers in other styles. The infrastructure and facilities available to ballet dancers simply do not exist for the Indian classical dancer. So no matter how talented or dedicated a dancer is, they simply cannot afford to explore their full potential. This is no surprise considering how insufficiently the arts are funded in the former

Soviet Union that is witnessing weak economies and challenging times.

Teaching is one of the most obvious ways to help build a dance career. Besides helping funding, and presenting practice opportunities, it succeeds in creating a rasika base in what would otherwise be a much uninitiated audience.

Students come from various backgrounds and interests, from Krishna devotees and Yoga enthusiasts to Bollywood lovers, to dancers of different styles who just happen to love Indian classical dance. The reality is that only one out of seven students stays for longer than a few months. As for the one-out-of-seven students – those that prove themselves as extremely hard-working and sincere fellow dancers help to crystallize the classical dances of India in these countries for generations to come.