4 minute read
A night of sensuality, tradition and transformation
Sujit Vaidya is an independent dance artist originally from Bombay (now Mumbai), living in Vancouver. He is trained in bharatanatyam – Indian classical dance.
Sujit performs as a soloist in Canada, the US, Europe, and India, and has worked with collectives and companies based in Chennai, Vancouver, Toronto, San Francisco, and DC.
Why are you drawn to bharatanatyam?
Sujit • My earliest childhood sensations around dance are of pure joy and abandon. In the moments that I danced, I could access a part of me that allowed for complete self acceptance.
I have always struggled with the performance of perceived masculinity, especially as a gay person growing up in India. Dance allowed me to let go of all of that baggage and find abandon in my gender expression.
There was a sensory overload in bharatanatyam. The mridangam (drum) made my heart dance. I was instantly attracted to the vibrant red on palms and feet painted in alta (red dye) and the heady fragrance of jasmine gajras (strings of flowers). All of these sensations inform my personal and dance aesthetic even today and creep up in my creative processes.
The dance form has (d)evolved from temples and courts to theatres. Today, in the mainstream representation of bharatanatyam, the focus has shifted to western principles of lines and physical virtuosity. However, the form retains its intricate and codified language of hand gestures and facial expressions, in story telling.
As a queer artist of colour, what do you bring to bharatanatyam?
What can you express within its traditions?
Sujit • Growing up queer in Bombay, in the late seventies, when there was such ambiguous information (if any) around sexual identity, I internalized my desire to train formally in dance. Formal dance training came very late in my life. In experiencing its formality, I have occupied space (many times simultaneously) as a student of dance, performer, interpreter, and now dance maker.
Many questions, curiosities, disconnections, and negotiations later, I find myself standing in its essence as a loud and proud queer person, slowly finding my voice in its gift. I continue to learn and unlearn, as I make peace with its complexities and find new ways to be present with all of it. My way of engaging with the form now, in the dances that I make, is to situate my queerness within the rootedness of “tradition” and intergenerational knowledge. Some curiosities/ideas I engage with around body, eroticism, gaze, queer shame, queer intimacy, and stillness have been showing up in my work consistently. Slowing down movement and reclaiming/re-aligning gaze around virtuosity through a non-Eurocentric lens interests me.
I like to give the viewer the agency of meaning making.
I’m not interested in putting across literal ideas. I like to sense and sculpt spaces for my audience’s imagination to inhabit.
In Sadhana, however, I will be presenting choreographies of my dance teacher A. Lakshmanaswamy who is visiting from India. He will be conducting the live musical ensemble. The choreographies in Sadhana are “traditional”, in that they are structured around mythological story telling.
These are some of the first choreographies that I learnt from my teacher as a younger person, and this is my humble attempt to dance them with all the integrity of his teachings, more than a decade later. It is in a way, honouring the form in inhabiting its “traditionality” in an attempt to ground my body. This is what fuels my creative explorations with a deep reverence and rootedness to form.
For audience members who aren’t familiar with bharatanatyam, what should they be watching for, and listening for, at your performance?
Sujit • For new audiences to bharatanatyam, there is plenty to take in. I must emphasize here that the live musicians accompanying my dance are masters of their respective crafts. They will play intricate rhythms, using drum, cymbals, vocalizations of dance syllables, voice and flute. This is a rare treat, especially for audiences in BC, including Vancouver.
Sadhana
When: April 27, Evergreen Theatre
What: An evening of bharatanatyam: Indian classical dance. See more at sujitvaidya.ca.
Tickets: At the Recreation Complex, or call 604-485-2891
