Art not gender specific, says Parwati Dutta

Ajay Joshi
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, January 14

Considering art as a need of the civilisation, not only to empower artistes but also to preserve the significance of traditional art forms in the country, Parwati Dutta, a renowned Odissi and Kathak dancer who has travelled across the globe for research and giving more wings to the two dance forms, spoke about how cultural mapping would help securing the traditional art forms in society.

Dutta, who is recognised by the dance fraternity as a thinker-dancer and a dedicated art administrator, is in the city for her four-day dance workshop.

Promoting the dance forms globally to enrich the lives of young girls and boys in the drought-prone Marathwada region, she had faced a lot of challenges and obstacles before establishing ‘Mahagami Gurukul’ as one of the premier dance institutions of the country, which is also recognised by UNESCO. She said, shifting to Aurangabad, and laying down the foundation stone of Mahagami Gurukul was a great deal for her, especially in a community which was neither developed nor blessed with nature’s alms. Despite that she managed to open her gurukul and nurture around three generations of Kathak and Odissi dancers for the past 22 years.

Dutta also fought for the inclusion of men in the classical dance. She said art was not gender specific and everyone had got an equal right to present any art form.

An alumni of Kathak Kendra, she is a senior disciple of Pt Birju Maharaj, Padma Vibhushan Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra and Padma Shri Madhavi Mudgal. Dance is not just an art for her but a medium of acquiring knowledge and satisfaction. Besides, she has done an extensive study on ‘Taal’ system of Odissi and Mardal tradition, Dhrupad, Pakhawaj, Sangeet Ratnakar and the sculptures of Ajanta-Ellora caves and translated her work into dance productions. She has also authored a book on Indian Classical dances named ‘Nrity-Gatha’ in English, Hindi, Marathi and Bengali.

Having travelled extensively for performances and workshops in several international platforms, she believed, instead of Indians, foreign nationals were making efforts in preserving the purest form of art. At an International Kathak festival in the University of Chicago, she said she was astonished to see how around 500 US-based dances have devoted themselves towards Kathak and were indulged in researching about the dance form and were visiting various places in the country to learn more about it. Hence, similar approach was needed on the part of dedicated artistes in today’s context to restore the essence of the art form, she said.

For the budding Kathak dancers, she advised, learning dance with its purity is a long journey that requires consistency, absolute faith and mental preparedness. Also, art is a prayer and should not be contemplated as competition. Besides, healthy criticism and an enlightened teacher could help an artiste to get well versed with his dance form.