THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: “If menstruation is dirty, then the whole human race is dirty, because without menstruation there will be no pregnancy,” said classical dance exponent Mallika Sarabhai, in an apparent reference to the ongoing Sabarimala issue. Mallika told reporters here on Tuesday, society is not for any one section. “Tradition is what we create. We have to change anything that is discriminatory. Do we think ourselves to be so superior that we are able to protect our gods?” she asked.
Mallika interacted with dance students at the lecture cum interaction programme organised at the Guru Gopinath Natana Gramam, here on Tuesday. The interaction was part of the ‘Meet the master’ programme where she spoke on the influence of theatre in contemporary bharatanatyam. “Menstrual blood has more stem cells that can save people’s lives than any other blood. In Scandinavian countries, governments and hospitals are asking women to keep their menstrual blood. They collect the blood from everybody’s house and then make it into stem cells which save cancer patients. Is that dirty?” asked the danseuse to the crowd of dance enthusiasts.
Stressing the need to ‘question’, Mallika Sarabhai spoke at length about her experimentation in dance and the need to formulate a new vocabulary for dance, one in tune with the present world. Sharing her journey through dance, she stressed art is an incredible medium to reach out to people with an idea.
Also for her, like her late mother, Mrinalini Sarabhai, dance and theatre are mediums to debate the wrongs in the society.
“To me, the arts have been an incredible language to reach out to people with an idea. Perhaps when our gurus first developed dance styles, what was really important in those times was spirituality. Perhaps if the gurus were alive now, they would be speaking about different things through dance,” she added.
At the lecture, she gave dance enthusiasts a peek into her world of dance and her experimentation in reinterpreting the myths. Stressing the need to question the traditions, she urged the students to ask themselves whether all things that are passed on as traditions are right.