CHENNAI: All types of performing arts such as music, drama and dance transcend geographical borders and belong to everyone, according to noted danseuse Padma Subrahmanyam.
Delivering a talk at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras on ‘Performing arts for national unity’, the Bharat Natyam exponent said the concept of ‘unity in diversity’ in India should be more appropriately termed as ‘unity in variety.’
Elaborating on the different types of performing arts such as dance, music and theatre in the country, she said all art forms originated from Natya Shastra and contributed to national unity. “Natya Shastra is a compilation of drama, dance, music and language,” she pointed out. “It is a combination of science and art.”
To the large number of students gathering at the auditorium, she waxed eloquent about the importance of science and its relationship with the arts. Drawing a Shiva Tandava-God Particle and macrocosm-microcosm parallel, she said the inner dance or drama was nothing but a microcosm of the cosmic dance or drama.
“The concept of the dance of Shiva in the ethereal sphere has its parallel in the stage, which is the microcosmic form of the universe.”
Stating that performing arts transcended all borders, she pointed out that Hindi films were a rage in Afghanistan. In Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world, the Ramayana was enacted every night. “All art forms are beyond religion, language, caste and other barriers.”
To prove her point, she displayed a video showing her Bharat Natyam performance of Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ set to Western Symphony. “All regions have their own art form and all are ours,” she said.
“Art forms comprise different components - physical, emotional and intellectual. It becomes a spiritual experience only for some who have done punya,” she added.