indian-events

When one thinks of the classical dance form Bharatnatyam, it is natural to imagine women in bright clothes and beautiful jewellery. However, this dance form has given many male dancers in the past who have ruled the stage in their half-clad body with next to no jewellery. Nonetheless, most of them are now deceased, quite senior, or have net been seen on the stage regularly. One name from Pondicherry who has popularised this dance form internationally is Raghunath Manet.

Raghunath is a man of many talents. He sings powerfully and soulfully, plays the Veena with mesmerising gusto, choreographs his pieces and dances like a true custodian of the pieces he has mastered. He has even acted in Italian and French films. Internationally acclaimed for his footwork, powerful renditions of pieces, he has inherited from his teacher, the late Ram Copal, especially the "Golden Eagle." He has performed in festivals all over the world and toured all over France, Italy, the UK, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Australia, Sri Lanka, Africa, Singapore, the USA, Caledonia and Antilles Islands. His mother is half Vietnamese, and his Father is a French. His roots are in Pondicherry where he still spends long periods of time and then he dances in the temples — for the attention of the divine presence and his own self.

When an artist has received such acclaim internationally and been written about as widely as thisman in bis 30s, it is difficult to fault his performance. However, when one sees him dance, it is quite obvions that any criticism would be welcome, though a difficult feat to manage for the most informed critic. He has received the "Chevalier Award for excellence in Arts and Litera ture" by the French Ministry.

Of his life in France, Raghunath Manet says, "Being an Indian in France gives you a new perspective to be proud of, as one is expected to have all the answers related to being an Indian. From Indian food to apparel, from customs to religion, from society to climate, one is expected to have answers to every question they ask!"

Asked about his dreams for the future, he definitely wishes te, "Universality of dance is an amazing property. I have performed for diplomats and kings, to packed theatres in France during festivals. I would definitely like to bring my dance and Veena music to audiences in the north of India." His manager, Didier Bellocq, is as dedicated to him as Raghunath is in turn dedicated to his dance and singing. Didier discovered him 15 years ago during festival in South India and the duo has been working together since then.

Didier has no other client and his energies are partly claimed by show horses for equestrian events. Any guilt that he might feel at not giving "enough Lime to Raghunath" work as a fuel towards his working that much harder.

The performance in Delhi was so well attended that important people, including diplomats and bureaucrats, sat on the floor in the side isles of the theatre where the front row had politicians such as Dr Karan Singh and the French ambassador with his wife. Accompanied with live music and powerful vocalists, the performance allowed viewers to see barely a glimpse of Raghunath's repertoire. His sélection of colours of his clothes, jewellery for his neck is all poetic coordination. When, while dancing, he reaches the point of extreme exertion and release of energy, Raghunath sweats and pants slightly. That is when his dance turns from the routine to the sublime. His confidence is well placed on his young shoulders but his humility shines through his dancing eyes — here is a dancer who bas not had his official arangetram as he is "constantly learning!"

Ask him to identify his most emotional performance; and it is not for the dite in packed halls anywhere in the world, but the emotional dance he performed for his teacher and guru, Ram Copal, while the latter breathed his last in a hospital bed and nodded his approval!

HAVING MADE a name for himself in a predominatelv female-dominated dance form of Bharatanatyam, dancer-choreographer-musician-singer Raghunath Manet is now coming to Delhi for a special performance titled "Pondicherrv -- Homage ta Rani Gopal" (his guru).

Born in the then French colony of Pondicheny. Raghunath is an ambassador of traditional art forms and one of the few males who have introduced Bharatanatyam to the West, where male dancers have been conspicuous by their absence since Ram Gopal, who in 1950 performed at Champs Elysees. Raghunath is also probably the only indian artiste performing in both music and dance and has to his credit more than ten veena CDs and two dance DVDs - " Pondicherry" and "Ornkara". He has studied under gurus Kaumati Sankara lyer. Rajeswari Padmanaban and Ranganayaki Rajagopalan and graduated from Kalakshetra with distinction. He has performed in festivals all over the world including France, Italy, Britain, Austria, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Australia, Sri Lanka, Africa, Singapore, the United States and Mauritius.

Speaking about his trip and his forth coming performance at Alliance Francaise in New Delhi on January 17, Raghunath, who has devoted his life to the deep study af traditional dance repertoire, says: "The theme was selected ta pay homage to my hometown Pondicherry, which is celebrating 50 years of independence. Also, through my dance I have always sought to send a strong image of lost traditions. For this performance I have composed the music and choreographed the show, with inputs from my colleagues. What you will see is a unique presentation that has drawn inspiration from temple carvings, which has often enabled me ta take a peek into great heights of creativits- in the form of dance and music. My movements are based on my, observation of Shiva's postures as represented in ancient temple sculptures and make up the greater part of my public shows."

Pondicherry is a unique marriage of music, dance and sang which made its debut during the Nijinsky Awards ceremony at the Monaco Dance Forum. It was presented to over 6,500 spectators during four evenings of sold-out performance in Paris and received outstanding critical acclaim.

ITS TOUTH FIGURING OUT WHICH part of Raghunath Manet you're supposed to talk to, coiled up as he is - all smooth brown arms and legs - on the floor of the green room at Mumbai's Codrej Dance Academy.

" There's nothing like unwinding with some Yoga" the head appears suddenly and announces in a Malayali English-French aux (a result of Indo-French parentage). His Bharata Natyarn performance has seen, as one member of the audience put it, "a tremendous exchange of energy between us and the dancer" In spite of a few flaws in the show, like a not-so-finely tuned veena, seems to have got the hang of playing to the audience: the dancer and his musiciens are dressed colourfully, in green, yellow and blue silks. Those adavus, leaps and movements have been masculine, energetic... which has come as a surprise, because like many, one has corne somewhat reluctantly to witness his performance as dancing in India is considered a woman's thing What does he have to say to that?

" Except for Kathakali, yes, you have a majority of women dancing. Maybe there have been some efferninate men who have taken up dancing to express their femininity," he answers "Most of the men have also had female gurus and picked up those very womanly movements But males were ver" much a part of temple dancing in the past. As a matter of fact, all the natawanars in the past were male. Women were not allowed to teach"

Manet feels lucky to have had a male guru like M S Nathan of the Villenur Temple in Pondicherry. "In a country where we have so many people, you can now count the number of male dancers on your fingertips. I had no one I could emulate, no hero." That was frustraiing. And now it's more frustrating to want to perform in lndia (in Paris, where he's based, things are better). "I wanted to dance in Madras, but one of die sabharnans (organisers) said 'we'd like to do something for you, but a male dancer..' His attitude was anti-art. He didn't know my work. What he meant to say was that a dance by a man would be boring. And that man's a big shot there. My god, how people can have such nonsense ideas. They need women just to entertain them. They get excitement out of it."

Can women do it better than men?

That has him up in a flash, and he's walking about with mincing steps. "This is how women are forced to dance. Can the dance of the supreme male, Shiva, the cosmic dancer - half naked, wild - be perforrned by a female? A woman's movements are somewhat restricted because she's covered from head to toe, and she can't lift her legs (here a demonstration of some vigorous throwing about of legs), she has to be the gentle Parvati, or Kali - there's a madness in "landau - it's thedance of a man. The concept of ardhnareshwar in Indian mythology - that of a male half and a female half uniting to form a whole underlines this perfectly. Men dont have to have a moustache and whatever to be called perfect. They can dance, too, to express themselves - and it's better if they do so because that keeps them out of all sorts of other trouble."

Manet teaches youngsters in Pondicherry to do what he loves best - giving free rein to expression: "I don't stick to traditional forms in my choreography. I do what makes me happy, to me it's an expression of joy. The audience needn't know what I'm trying to express. They can interpret k on their own and create their own stories. I dance to the dictates of my body, what my mind tells me. If an art form doesn't change, doesn't evolve, it will die and stagnate.

" And dancing is universal. It makes me do fantastic things. I've won the international disco dancing competition in France. Is there anything feminine about that?"

At India international Centre last week, the mystical vision of dance that Ramli Ibrahim had provided for us last year in the genre of Odissi was repeated by Raghunath Manet in Bharat Natyam. Ibrahim, a Malay Muslim and Manet, a Pondicherry born, Paris-based Indian dancer console us with the thought that dance, the creation of a male god, the Cosmic Nataraja, is still alive in that species and can put to shame a pride of beautiful ballerinas.

They also point to the astonishing alchemy that touches Indian dance when performed by a committed dancer with eyes that are open to the Nijinskys and Nureyevs of the world even as they grapple with the spiritualsensual union in our dance.

With that hand held aloft, the corso curved like Rama's bow, the jet-black hair wet, as if he had just stepped out of the shower, Manet's sense of the drama in dance was evident from the moment the gold-turbanned player of the "Damru" came silently onstage and in precise choreography was followed by the other musicians, the singer, the nattuvanar, the mridangist, the daph player and then finally the dancing star.

And what a dance he performed for us! By turns it was as if we were watching the sawaljawab of a masser Kathak dancer. At other times the leap and arching flights of the body were the kind one witnesses in a rare folk per-former, all energy and raw strength. And then again, when he folded the leg across the thigh ever so neatly and subtly, in the Nataraja pose or spun out different adavus with the beauty and grace of temple sculpture come alive, it was clearly only Bharat Natyam that could release such a vision.

As for Tala, Raghunath seems to breathe it in and breathe it out as naturally as air. The play with rhythm in the Ananda Tandava was an experience in itself. Using the very novel ideal in dance of the soloist taking a breakwhite the musicians engage in a Tala Vadya Kachen, a common enough ingredient of a music concert, he meshed a volley of spitfire Jathi sequences into the dance upon his return.

Simple Bols like Takita Jhom Ta embroidered in the different sound patterns of different percussion instruments, from the feet to the Ghatam, became a holistic statement of intent. Thus must the galaxies have moved in tandem, and in isolation, when Shiva struck the first clap on the Damru! And chus must have the elements pulled apart in fear and empathy when, leg held high in a Urdha Tandava pose. He opened the third eye of destruction!

An excellent sense of Aharya informed Manet's performance. Quick changes of the dhoti, a white silk for the opening Pushpanjali and Alarippu, a goldochre for the Tandava, a royal purple for the Tillana, small but effective changes of jewellery and special silk, zan-bordered long traditional coats over dhotis for the musicians gave an elegant look to the whole ensemble.

Manet, already busy running a dance school in Pondicherry for over 200 children of a lesser God, is seriously thinking of opening a special school for male dancers. This would be a genuine contribution to dance because his own experience in devising special compositions and choreographies for the male body.

The way he imparts it the strength and the stealth of the tiger when sighting a prey, the way he makes the stage his playground, moving from the edge upfront to the rear, the rides and then centre again, the dramatic sense he has of music and rhythm, of which his own playing of the Veena was an excellent example and above all his intuitive understanding of how to weave in everything together will go a long way in ensuring that the male dancer does not become a lost tribe in the land of its origin.