Swarthmore College Works

Dance Faculty Works Dance

Summer 2008

Review Of "Performing Konarak, Performing Hirapur: Documenting The Odissi Of Guru Surendranath Jena" And "Interpreting And (Re)Constructing Indonesian Dance And Music Heritage" By A. Lopez Y Royo

Pallabi Chakravorty Swarthmore College, [email protected]

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Recommended Citation Pallabi Chakravorty. (2008). "Review Of "Performing Konarak, Performing Hirapur: Documenting The Odissi Of Guru Surendranath Jena" And "Interpreting And (Re)Constructing Indonesian Dance And Music Heritage" By A. Lopez Y Royo". Dance Research Journal. Volume 40, Issue 1. 92-95. https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-dance/102

This work is brought to you for free by Swarthmore College Libraries' Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dance Faculty Works by an authorized administrator of Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ba: Dance and Social Change in Contemporary Herskovits, Melville. 1941. Myth of the Negro Cuba (1995), Daniel examined a signature Past. New York: Harper Brothers. Jahn, J anheinz. 1961. secular dance in one culture of the diaspora; Muntu: 1he New African Culture. New York: Grove Press. in Dancing Wisdom she makes a giant grace­ Murphy,Joseph. 1988. Santeria:AnAfrican Re­ ful leap into many sacred dances and their ligion in America. Boston: Beacon Press. contexts across the diaspora. In the process, Ortiz, Fernando. 19 50. LaAfrican{a de la Mtisica she advances dance anthropology through Folklorica de Cuba. Havana: Ministerio de ambitious meticulous scholarship, acute Educacion, Cardenas y Cia. comparative analyses, riveting ethnographic Thompson, Robert Farris. 1974.AfricanArt in description, and a sensual sense of the danc­ Motion. Los Angeles: University of Califor­ nia Press. ing body that makes one feel the movement ---. 1984. Flash of the Spirit: African and in the muscles and the spirit. Afro-American Art and Philosophy. New York: Halifu Osumare Vintage Books. University of California, Davis Priestess of Oya-Yansan PERFORMING KONARAK, PERFORM­ Works Cited ING HIRAPUR: DOCUMENTING THE Bastide, Roger. 1978. 1he African Religions of ODISSI OF GURU SURENDRANATH Brazil Translated by Helen Sebba. Baltimore, JENA MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. by Alessandra Lopez y Rayo. 2007. SOAS, Brandon, George. 199 3. Santeria from Africa University of London, AHRC Research to the New World: 1he Dead Sell Memories. Centre far Cross-Cultural Music and Dance Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Performance. £ IO. oo. Brown, Karen McCarthy. 1991. Mama Lola:A Voodoo Priestess in Brooklyn. Berkeley: Uni­ INTERPRETING AND (RE)CONSTRUCT­ versity of California Press. ING INDONESIAN DANCE AND MUSIC Cabrera, Lydia. 1940. Cuentos Negros de Cuba. HERITAGE Havana: La Veronica. by Alessandra Lopez y Rayo. 2007- SOAS, Daniel, Yvonne. 199 5. Rumba: Dance and Social Change in Contemporary Cuba. Bloomington: University of London, AHRC Research Indiana University Press. Centre far Cross-Cultural Music and Dance Desmangles, Leslie. 1992. Faces of the Gods. Performance. £ IO. oo. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Two recently produced films by Alessandra Deren, Maya. r 9 53. Divine Horsemen: 1he Voo­ Lopez y Royo focus on dance innovation in doo Gods of Haiti. New York: Thames and two different cultural contexts, each demon­ Hudson. strating how new aesthetics are forged within Dunham, Katherine. 1947/r983. 1he Dances of Haiti. Los Angeles: Center for Afro-Ameri­ and between traditional practices. Both films can Studies, UCLA. (Originally published as are well crafted, thoughtfully edited, and will "Las Danzas De Haiti,"ActaAnthropologicia be very useful for pedagogical purposes. They 11[4] [1947]). illustrate dance innovations not in terms of Griaule, Marcel. 1948/ 196 5. Conversations rupture or as dismantling classical canons but with Ogotemm eli: An Introduction to Dogan rather as continuous reinventions existing in Religious Ideas. London: Oxford University relation to tradition. Press. In Performing Konarak, Performing Hira-

92 Dance Research Journal 40 / 1 SUMMER 2008 pur, for example, Royo merges archaeology, But the most significant aspect of the dance, and art history to narrate the story of film is Royo's documentation of Guru Jena's the distinctive Odissi style created by the late work, which draws on the temple sculptures Surendranath Jena. This richly documented of Konarak and Hirapur, and the relative film does several things. First, it gives us a marginalization of his work due to his aes­ glimpse of the multiple strands of dance thetic choices. She uses five signature pieces practices from Orissa, situated on the east­ by Guru Jena, all rendered by his daughters, ern coast oflndia, that were woven together of which I will discuss Konarakanti and to construct the "classicism" of modern day Shakti Rupa Yogini to analyze his particular Odissi. Second, it shows that the modern approach. Both these compositions merge history of Odissi parallels the ideology of architecture and sculpture to give expression dance classicism in India that drew on San­ to a distinct Indian aesthetic that reveals the skrit sources such as Natyashastra, Abhinaya intimate dialogue between sculpture and ar­ darpana, and, specifically for Odissi, Abhi­ chitecture in temples and in dances. Royo nayachandrika. Third, it shows the deeper uses the term choreography in relation to Jena's Hindu-ization of various indigenous/tribal works, but I am curious to know whether dance practices due to the powerful impact Jena used the term himsel£ Now that chore­ of bhakti movement in medieval India. The ography has assumed a hegemonic status in last point is significant for understanding the the global discourse on non-Western dance contribution ofGuru Jena's work and for en­ practices, it is difficult to trace how dance lan­ gaging with the larger context of the political guage evolved in different cultural contexts. A and cultural complexities oflndian dances. survey ofdance criticism that has appeared in Royo uses lively visuals cross-cutting Indian English newspapers since the 1950s the local context of Orissa, the urban dance is a case in point. In this regard interviews classes in Delhi, and the temple sculptures of with Jena and his students/daughters would Konarak and Hirapur for weaving her narra­ have been insightful. tive. The visuals show the roots of Odissi that In his work Konarakanti Jena re-imagines combine the Gotipua, Mahari, Akhada, and the Odissi repertoire and connects it to the Nacha traditions. She mentions the works of temple structure at Konarak. He expresses important male gurus such as Debaprasad through this and his other works the intri­ Das, Pankaj Charan Das, Surendranath cate visual designs that capture the relation­ Das, Surendranath Jena, and the legend­ ships of the various celestial figures, animals, ary Kelucharan Mahapatra, who shaped the and everyday activities. Mostly expressed in repertoire of modern day Odissi. The viewer linear or circular movements that reflect the also gets a sense of the institutionalization of architectural lines of the temple structures, Odissi from its community context in Orissa his signature works highlight the icono­ to the urban centers in Delhi, Kolkata, and graphic or imagistic representations rather Bhubaneshwar. The lack of a female voice than spatial explorations. However, he em­ in shaping the dance repertoire is not insig­ phasizes movement over statuesque postures nificant here, despite the fact that important (that are common to Odissi), thus creating a female dancers and choreographers such as different conceptualization of time. The dense Sanjukta Panigrahi, Aloka Kanungo, Mad­ visual aesthetics in Konarakanti are in direct havi Mudgal, Protima Bedi, and Ileana Cit­ contrast to the iconography of Shakti Rupa aristi, among others, popularized the form. Yogini. The latter work details the stark and

Dance Research Journal 40 / 1 SUMMER zoos 93 powerful images of the sixty-four yoginis cally blend non-Western forms with a Euro­ that adorn the temple structure at Hirapur. American movement vocabulary (implicit Jena draws on the medieval text Shaktipurana in this is a tradition/ modern binary). This written by Sarala Das, the temple architec­ project blends two non-Western forms and in ture, and the iconography of the yoginis to the process reformulates dominant notions of depart from the hyper-feminine sensuality of intercultural performance and contemporary Odissi aesthetics. He creates an aesthetic of dance. the grotesque emotion (bibhatsa rasa) that is The documentary shows the project in considered trangressive to the classicism of various stages. A segment with Indonesian Odissi, one that draws mostly from sringara dance scholar Dibia shows him working rasa (erotic emotion). The powerful dance with student dancers at Roehampton Uni­ rendition by Pratibha Jena draws the viewer versity, where this project took place. The to the poetics of gesture and emotion, evok­ film then moves to Denpasar, showing the ing a tantric world of magic and mysticism. Kecak festival in its full grandeur. It gives us Through close-ups and judicious camera a window into how traditions that appear movement, the film captures the aesthetics age-old are often modern inventions, such of darshana (divine gaze) evoked through as the Kecak. It also shows Dibia's use of the the powerful yogini dance. The presence of chanting technique for inventing a contem­ an actual audience during the performance porary vocabulary for Balinese dance. I only would have added to the sense of community wish Royo had included interviews with the and context. Last, we see guru Jena danc­ audience members after the performance, ing and singing to the text of Gitagovinda (a which could have added another layer to the twelfth-century text) from a seated position complex negotiations of cultural spaces by immersed in rasa (aesthetic emotion), reveal­ the performers and the audience, especially ing to this viewer the merging of the bhakta as this event was staged in Roehampton. (devotee), the deity, and the dancer embody­ The four dance segments, Alarippu, ing beauty, truth, and ananda (bliss). This is Ashtadigpala, Jayaprana, and Abduction of a great addition to South Asian dance film Sita, combine Balinese dance, music, and archives and is a tribute to the late Suren­ theatrical styles, especially Legong, Arja, and dranath Jena, who passed away recently. Game/an with Bharatnatyam and Carnatic Interpreting and (Re}Constructing Indo­ music. The dance piece Jayaprana, choreo­ nesian Dance and Music Heritage, another graphed by Pujawati, tells an old Balinese film by Royo, looks at the creation of an story in the contemporary context of politi­ Asian hybrid: an intercultural collaboration cal corruption. The costumes and aesthetics of Balinese dance and Bharatnatyam from of the dance form remain close to the tra­ south India. Royo's separation of the dance ditional structure while the story is reinter­ performance from the documentary section preted. Alarippu and Ashtadigpala are both works well to give us a view of the process of beautifully crafted, with care taken to inte­ dance making by the Balinese team Ni Made grate Balinese with Carnatic music. The in­ Pujawati, I Negah Susila, I Wayan Dibia with trinsic relationship between Asian music and the Bharatnatyam group Chitra Sundaram, dance forms is not overlooked here, as one Y. Yadavan, R. Pratap, and others. The proj­ finds in much contemporary choreography. ect is an attempt to go beyond the binaries The most striking section in theAshtadigpala of east/west dance collaborations that typi- interweaves gestures, musical cadences, and

94 Dance Research Journal 40 / 1 SUMMER 2008 bodies in motion and reflection to create a Music. Budapest: Akadimiai Kiado, European sense of unity in difference. Folklore Institute. 289 pp., illustrations, refer­ The last piece, Abduction of Sita, a story ences, appendix. $45.00 paper. from Ramayana, is an obvious choice for the collaboration by the choreographers/ The large international participation of schol­ dancers Sundaram and Pujawati as it is the ars, many of them young graduate students, in common cultural thread that connects Bali the recent CND/CORD/SDHS conference and India. Sundaram uses the Bharatnatyam in Paris (June 21-2 7, 2007 ), along with new structure and Pujawati uses techniques from publications in the field and the spread of Arja theater to re-imagine this popular world dance courses in colleges and universi­ story in a Balinese-Indian idiom. However, ties in many regions of the world, suggest the it would have been more interesting if the need for increasingly sophisticated research choreographers could retell this story from a publications. New publications featuring the different perspective than the standard one. works ofwell-known senior scholars are cause It was also interesting to see Sundaram, em­ for celebration by those of us attempting to bodying Bharatnatyam, playing all the male meet research and student demand for new characters while Pujawati enacts the female sources of information that feature new con­ character of Sita and the golden deer. The ceptual, theoretical, and methodological ap­ documentary highlights the collaborative proaches. In the past few years scholars have nature of the project and the careful ne­ produced an exciting array of monographs gotiations and aesthetic choices that were and collections of essays important to the made to make it successful. It was thought­ field of world dance or dance ethnology. ful and respectful of traditional repertoire In Dancingfrom Past to Present the edi­ as it forged new experiences for innovation tor, Theresa Jill Buckland, has shaped a vol­ and improvisation. The two striking dancers ume that "has two principal goals. First, it reconfigured structures of improvisation and aims to stimulate debate on the combined innovation. use of ethnographic and historical strategies Pallabi Chakravorty in investigating dance as embodied cultural Swarthmore College practice. Second, it aims to expand the field of mainstream dance studies by focusing on examples beyond typically Eurocentric con­ DANCING FROM PAST TO PRESENT: ceptualizations of concert dance" (vii). Buck­ NATION, CULTURE, IDENTITIES land has gathered together the work of eight edited by Theresa fill Buckland. 2006. Madi­ scholars investigating an impressive variety of son: University of Wisconsin Press. xii+ 245 traditional dance cultures in order to add a pp., illustrations, notes, index. $24.95paper. historical dimension to ethnographic studies, DANCE AND SOCIETY: DANCER AS which, following some past anthropological practices, often omit the crucial diachronic A CULTURAL PERFORMER. RE-AP­ element from their findings. PRAISING OUR PAST, MOVING INTO THE FUTURE As Buckland notes, most mainstream dance scholarship concentrated on West­ edited by Elsie Ivancich Dunin, Anne von Bi­ ern theatrical and historical dance practices: bra Wharton, and Ldsz/6 Felfaldi. 2005. 40th dance as an art form. By contrast, ''Anthro­ Anniversary ofStudy Group on Ethnochoreol­ pologists sought to understand the present ogy ofInternational Council on Traditional

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