Notes on a dying art:

What fails Bharatha Natyam Arangetrams in Sri Lanka

Subashini PATHMANATHAN

Bharatha Natyam was brought to this country mostly in 1950 by the students who went to India to learn this excellent Indian art.

Some learnt from the traditional Gurus, whilst some learnt from established institutions. As compared to India here in Sri Lanka a handful of artistes have taken up this art as a profession. We can see a very few Sri Lankan professional Bharatha Natya artistes are in this performing field.

Full confidence is a strong prerequisite for a dancer

Without proper training, most youngsters in the Bharatha Natyam field open dance schools as soon as finish a short duration dance course, whilst a few give some amount of public performances and with the passage of time they also pass into oblivion. Majority of the students who learn Bharatha Natyam do not have enthusiasm. Even most of the teachers who teach Bharatha Natyam are not dedicated to this great art.

Majority of the dance teachers are employed in schools. And these teachers take dance classes in the evenings at their homes, as a part-time occupation. Hence the method of handling this art in this country is not a profession or a vocation. But more or less today this profession has become an income-based business venture.

Arangetram means maiden performance of a young artiste to introduce herself or himself to the art world as a budding artiste. Arangam means stage, attram means entering the stage. Arangetram also refers to as Arangaperavesam. It also reflects the same meaning. In an Arangetram the entire artistes are supposed to perform the entire margam or prescribed Bharatha Natya repertoire laid down by the famed Tanjore quartette. In certain occasions the teachers are also under the pressure to have a quick Arangetram for their children, from the parents' side. In some occasions the teachers pressurize the parents to have the Arangetram for income purposes without considering the standard of the students. Ultimately both these attitudes affect overall quality of the art in the country.

Definition

Arangetram is an expensive event anyhow all the parents are not in a position to have Arangetram for their children.

Some Arangetrams are just jejune performances only. To cover these shortcomings, elaborate stage décor, dazzling lights, attractive different colour costumes with different patterns and different musical instruments are used. But it should be remembered that all these devices cannot mask the poor quality of the dance.

After the Arangetrams big size pictures and numerous reviews are published in the newspapers.

Career

In these reviews every danseuse is projected and hailed as a prodigy and every dance teacher is also referred to as veteran. This type of reviews do not promote the standard of this great art, unfortunately on the other hand it further weakens the art. With the passage of time the danseuse also passes into oblivion. From the time of immemorial it has been said that the Arangetram is only the first step in dancing career.

But in this country the Arangetram marks not the beginning of the dance career, but the end of the career.

Gathering all the information one could come to the conclusion that lack of dedication and devotion to the art is the preliminary and ultimate cause for mishandling this art.

Ironically the Tamil cinema which created the great interest in Bharatha Natyam and fostered the art is also one of the main reasons today for debasing the art by projecting bawdy dances.In Sri Lanka lack of dedication and devotion to the art could be seen very often among the students and teachers.

The students are crazy for certificates; meanwhile the teachers are also hankering for titles and awards. Some dance teachers are prepared to accept any title from any individual or from any sort of organization, without considering the standing of the body. On the Arangetram day, most of the dance teachers award diploma to the students who have no statutory right to confer such degrees to the students. Most of the average level masses do not aware the fact that those diplomas have no value at all. Some of the teachers are always relentlessly pursuit publicity through print and electronic media without any meaningful contribution to this great art.

The above said factors have attributed totally for the debasement of this great art in this country today.