The twentieth version of AttenDance, the yearbook on dance by Ashish Mohan Khokar has Mysticism as its theme
The twentieth version of AttenDance, the yearbook on dance by Ashish Mohan Khokar has Mysticism as its theme
Over the years, performing arts didn’t benefit from the media’s consideration or had been poorly documented. Barring a number of newspapers’ coverages of artwork and cultural occasions, artistes suffered for need of consideration/publicity. That was until scholar and art-critic Ashish Mohan Khokar conceptualised an annual dance ebook titled AttenDance. In preserving with famend historian, artwork collector and his father Mohan Khokar’s strident want to chronicle all actions associated to artwork within the nation, the primary version of AttenDance grew to become a actuality in 1998. The twentieth version, themed ‘Dance and Mysticism’ was launched not too long ago with artwork critic and journalist Ranee Kumar because the Guest editor.
In an unique interview, Ashish shares the two-decade journey of AttenDance and the standing of dance at this time.
How did your ebook ‘AttenDance’ evolve in 20 years?
It had no plan, no actual objective. I used to be merely fulfilling my cancer-bound father late Prof. Mohan Khokar’s want that there should be a document of the 12 months that was. This was in 1998 when there was no web; we had been nonetheless within the carbon-copy age! Even these working within the dance artwork subject couldn’t readily recall who died when; what had been the milestones of a 12 months or what books had been launched. We tried to handle the tutorial hole, as universities too had no literature on dance. Each concern advanced as a means of osmosis.
The annual dance chronicle AttenDance
| Photo Credit: Special association
Do you see this yearbook serving its function?
Yes. Honestly and humbly, it helps hyperlink the previous with the current. We characteristic history-based articles too, thus constructing bridges. My father created India’s largest dance archives referred to as the Mohan Khokar Dance Collection (valued at ₹ 7 crores, now donated to the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (INGNCA) Delhi. Lots of uncommon photographs and historic supplies from there have figured in previous problems with AttenDance, which additionally options upcoming skills, helps Indian dance attain worldwide academia and most significantly, provides to the physique of data that’s woefully insufficient.
Who are your goal readers?
All we are able to attain: the practitioner, the purveyor, the patrons and the press! We are so small that when an order comes from Japan or Jalandhar we really feel elated. I didn’t even know the place Xalapa was till we needed to publish a replica to Mexico 20 years in the past. Sweden or Mauritius, now we have dedicated readers. There’s nothing like a yearbook of this sort in India. Today, now we have many PhD college students referring to it and a few even copy it or translate it with out giving us any credit score. We don’t sue them as we consider data should journey. We are mere transporters.
Was discovering good writers a problem?
Writing, like all arts, is a present too. Real data is just not a quest or modern even. Most kids can’t give a 3000-word article. Where I failed, Ranee Kumar, visitor editor of this most troublesome concern, succeeded. She discovered many good kids like Aniruddh Knight or Himanshu Shrivastav and made them flip in very readable copies. She discovered one in Finland too! She tackled a really troublesome topic and I have to confess, this Twenty second-year concern is by far the very best within the final decade. All credit score to her.
Do you repeat your writers?
Depends on the topic, although there’s no rule. Art is extra essential than the artiste. Subject core competency decides the writer for us, although we are able to’t be too picky as in all India, actually sorry to say, there are usually not even 10 certified or good writers on dance.
How do you choose your visitor editors and the way typically do you alter them?
Only as soon as in 5 years or so, I’ve. Idea is to discover a new voice and to provide readers a reprieve from a boring me. Subject, area, and expertise resolve. For instance, 20 years in the past for a Gujarat Special, we would have liked somebody on the bottom who knew the fabric and his marbles. Ditto for northeast 15 years in the past. Or dance in movies.
The first visitor editor was 15 years in the past from Odisha, Shyamhari Chakra who handled ‘Traditions of East’. Second, 12 years in the past, SD Desai on ‘Traditions of West’. The third was seven years in the past on ‘Telugu Traditions’ by Ananda Shankar Jayant and now on ‘Mysticism’ by Ranee Kumar. There’d be no twentieth concern with out Ranee!
Having written on dance for 40 years, I’m a bit bored with my voice and post-Covid there was fatigue. I had no focus. Ranee Kumar took complete cost: She discovered competent authors, supervised illustrations and proofread every article, even rewrote some very unhealthy submissions and located sponsors.
Born right into a household of notable dancers and having pioneered the idea of artwork administration what are your observations concerning the adjustments in classical dance?
It has modified from the artwork of the soloist to the artwork of the group. Increasingly, we see fewer dancers have the stamina or materials to bounce a full night, as many others did earlier. Dancers blame organisers for asking for selection within the programme to fill a corridor. Another essential change is the pace of recitals. Dance varieties are competing with the Shatabdi, (specific practice) it appears. Even languorous varieties like Orissi (the traditional identify of this way) that has lalitya (grace) are actually attempting to beat Kuchipudi or Bharatanatyam in pace. Lastly, there are only a few paying organisers, besides for presidency patronage. Corporate India does nothing a lot for classical dance. Most of them help cricket or trend. India has wealthy traditions, however folks have poor style or go for fashionable arts. TV has ruined dance artwork too.
At residence as Guest editor
Journalist-art critic Ranee Kumar
| Photo Credit: Special association
When Ashish Khokar mooted the undertaking within the thick of Omicron and specified that she be the visitor editor, Ranee Kumar admits she didn’t precisely leap with pleasure. “I took a look at the earlier books and felt all dance-based themes were exhausted. Then what is left for me to explore? I wanted it to be unique and in-depth, giving it my best editorial shot. It was then that Ashish came up with mysticism and dance, knowing both to be my pet subjects. That sort of decided the matter for me and I decided I will not let him down,” says the senior artwork critic and a former journalist with The Hindu.
Once she got here on board, Ranee needed to face mounting challenges. While most had been editorial exams like re-arranging, rewriting and alter of headlines with out ruffling feathers of the contributors, what was daunting for Ranee was a dearth of writers on a topic that was just like the play of summary and concrete.
She says, “We needed writers with at least a little awareness and theoretical knowledge of classical dance as also mysticism. That was a tricky combination. Lots of people practice mysticism —– scholars, poets, et al but most weren’t confident about relating it to dance. Then we had a host of academically qualified dance performers and theorists who couldn’t tackle the subject of mysticism. And here I was, trying to pool in at least a dozen articles of considerable length and depth to mould into a book of consequence! Thanks to my exposure to dance and artists, I was able to identify a few who could write on this subject because of their involvement with both dance and mysticism.”
Ranee is especially elated that she might rope in a Sufi professor, Mikko Viitamaki from Helsinki University, Finland who readily pitched in with an article on Sufi and Raqs (dance).
“My objective was to open minds to a new perspective of viewing dance and arrive at their own conclusions. It is not a book on the technicalities of dance, so anyone interested in spirituality and arts can understand it. Art thrives only when it has universal appeal, not confined to just connoisseurs. As for mysticism, well, it is already established across the world,” says Ranee.
Source: www.thehindu.com
