Magician of Multiple Mudras
Santosh Nair, 42
Choreographer, Sadhya
Santosh Nair has synchronised a shift in Delhi’s contemporary dance scene. “The acceptance for other dance influences and Western genres is growing. Mumbai has the money, and Delhi, well everything else a dancer requires for basics and growing,” he says.
Nair has broken the barriers between the classical, folk and the popular, walked the tightrope between the different styles and genres in perfect balance, and has trained many dancers in Delhi despite many getting lucrative offers from the Mumbai dance industry. “These are good times for dance in Delhi. Most colleges have choreography groups trained by experts in a production-centric approach,” he says. There isn’t a moment to spare for watching cricket match telecasts at Sadhya, his dance studio in South Delhi. Nair promises everyone time off. “Five minutes more. Just five more,” he says. The dancers begin the chhau sequence again, this time with dummy swords. It’s a grand display of the uphlees and chaalees, the grammatical details in Mayurbhanj chhau, before the studio mirrors. He says, “Today, the parental and peer pressure is huge on students. They need expensive phones; mall bhi jaana hai; they have to pay the bills and buy nice outfits. They have to balance studies, jobs and dance. They have to walk with the times. It’s difficult.”
Sounds at Sadhya explain Nair’s journey in less than a few minutes. There is a recorded sequence of pakhawaj playing on the loop. The phone rings. Someone congratulates Nair for the National Award won by his student Sudesh Adhana for the track Bismil for Haider. Foot taps, claps and movements of the sweating feet on the dance floor set the rhythm for an intense month.
On April 29, Nair will be part of the fifth World Dance Day celebrations where a hundred artistes will create a spectacular evening with choreographies and views on dance at the Kamani Auditorium. Nair is looking at the option of crowd-funding events. Crowd-funding was not an option in the late 70s and 80s when Nair’s father Kalamandalam Padmanabhan and many other artistes depended on dance centres, patrons and later, the Indian government, for performing opportunities and sustaining projects. “Back then, the artistes focused totally on dance. They had nothing else to worry about.” Today, he is melting the ice between well-known classical dancers and students of jazz, contemporary and ballet through talk sessions. He says, “The effect is magical. The mutual respect is growing.”