Indian dancing

THE REVIVAL OF INDIAN DANCING

can best be tackled with the aid of those who produce the system.

Individual dancers such as Menaka, Shankar, and Rukmini Devi have not succeeded in making theit art centres truly nationalistic. The fault is not theirs. The problem is too vast in a sprawling countty like India for an individual to tackle. A State Dance Academy, with centres in all the provinces, is what is needed to restore the att to its former glory.

The State should grant the dancer certain facilities. It should build national theatres where he and his brother artists may perform. At present, obtaining a theatre for a show is purely a commercial enterprise. Dancing and its allied art of drama have become not necessary recreation, but luxuries. The system of State Support, but without totalitarian tendencies, would be ideal. Under such a system the dancer would no longer be Jooked upon as a luxury, but as a useful member of the community, providing it with legitimate recreation.

The State can help the dancer to forsake his ivory tower or thatched hut, his Himalayan heights or his pit of Yama, and come and live amongst his fellow men, reflecting their lives through the medium of his art. For Indian dancing, this is no unattainable ideal. In the renaissance on whose threshold we stand, dancing must elevate the taste of the masses, without, of course, losing touch with the fundamental things of life.

Our vdwans and gurus, such as Menakshi Sunderam Pillay and Kunjukurup, and many others who live in obscutity, keeping traditions alive, should be persuaded to come out of their retreats and the State should employ their vast store of knowledge.

The poet works at his metre alone; the painter wields his brush in solitude; sufficient to the musician is his melody. Only the dancer can bring about a concordance of these arts, for as we have already seen, he works on all four planes — the divine, the astral, the audible, and the visible. He can bring together the singer, the musician, the painter and the art of Nataraja, presenting thus a composite picture, a harmonious fusion of the different arts.

In India it is often impossible for the dancer to find the musicians and designers he needs. At present, every dancer with a troupe has

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