Indian dance and music create regional identities
Menaka PP Bora performing Sattriya
Indian dance and music create regional identities
17 January 2014
A 16th century classical Indian dance form originally performed by male monks will be showcased at Asia House by a female dancer next week.
Oxford-based Menaka PP Bora will perform Sattriya, a dance form founded in Assam, a state in northeast India that has been blighted by an insurgency movement in recent decades, on 21 January 2014.
Sattriya is one of eight classical Indian dance forms. It was originally performed in Assamese monasteries to borgeets (Assamese classical raga based music).
“Sattriya has been taken from an old drama tradition. It was performed in rituals and plays that went on for days,” said Bora, who was born in India, and has practised Sattriya since the age of two.
Bora’s mother Indira PP Bora was one of the first women to perform Sattriya which led to it moving from just being performed in monasteries to being performed on the stage although she was criticised for ‘dancing like a man’ by the local press at the time.
“My mother was one of the first female pioneers because it was only performed by male monks when she started in the 1950s; women were not allowed to learn this art form,” Bora explained.
“Society was different in India then, women dancers were not even considered respectable.
“Today it is very different, dancing has become a profession for women – it’s a different society with different values now.”
The duo were instrumental in getting the dance form recognised as one of the eight classical dances of India in 2000 leading to Menaka receiving the Ustad Bismallah Khan Yuva Puraskar award from the National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in India. This award is given to young outstanding practitioners up to the age of 35.
“I grew up watching my mother teach dance, I would come home to a hub of artists. I was never told to dance, I just grew up doing it,” Bora said.
“It has now been accepted in India that women dance Sattriya as a classical tradition. Classical dance needs female performers. The monks understand that and are happy as long as it is performed in the right way. You can’t just say that Sattriya is just a dance, it is a way of living,” she added.
Bora is fascinated by life in the Assamese monasteries of 16th century India, aiming to also understand the monks’ daily lives and how they were trained in cookery, hygiene and healing alongside Sattriya dance.
“To be a Sattriya dancer you have to go through so much training”, Bora said. So in her view the lifestyle of the monks cannot be separated from performing.
Sattriya is also an important aspect of Assamese cultural identity. “Everyone talks about it even if they don’t perform,” Bora said.
“This dance and music in Assam is a way of maintaining tradition and an identity, especially in India where there is not one identity and where we have regional identities. People use dance and music to establish their own regional identity,” she added.
Assam’s fabulous cultural achievements are often forgotten due to its geographical isolation and the Indian media which prefers to focus on political instability and conflict, she added.
At times Indian audiences have responded to Bora’s performances with statements of surprise and preconception – “we never thought Assam would have such a beautiful dance form”, is often the feedback she hears.
Bora aims to transcend national boundaries, connecting diverse peoples and cultures through her performances, whilst retaining the significance of her heritage.
At her performance at Asia House she will entwine spoken word into her performance to add explanation to what she is doing. Whilst the dance choreography will be firmly rooted in the 16th century tradition, it has her own personal touch.
“I hope to talk about my own experiences of being an artist from Assam in London and what it means, my problems, challenges and transnationalism. I call it Sattriya Dance Theatre because the form stays rooted but I add my own artistic representation of the form. It is the essence of a classical dance but presented in my own way. I guess I use a contemporary language so that people who haven’t been to India can relate to the dance.
“I feel I have a duty as an artist to bring Sattriya forward without disturbing the form.”
Since completing her PhD in London, Menaka has been based in Oxford and is focused on spreading awareness of Sattriya and “bringing high class professionalism to the form”.
Recently nominated as the first artist-in-residence of its kind at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, she is hopeful that Sattriya has a great future.
A 16th century classical Indian dance form originally performed by male monks will be showcased at Asia House by a female dancer next week.
Oxford-based Menaka PP Bora will perform Sattriya, a dance form founded in Assam, a state in northeast India that has been blighted by an insurgency movement in recent decades, on 21 January.
Sattriya is one of eight classical Indian dance forms. It was originally performed in Assamese monasteries to borgeets (Assamese classical raga based music).
“Sattriya has been taken from an old drama tradition. It was performed in rituals and plays that went on for days,” said Bora, who was born in India, and has practised Sattriya since the age of two.
Bora’s mother Indira PP Bora was one of the first women to perform Sattriya which led to it moving from just being performed in monasteries to being performed on the stage although she was criticised for ‘dancing like a man’ by the local press at the time.
“My mother was one of the first female pioneers because it was only performed by male monks when she started in the 1950s; women were not allowed to learn this art form,” Bora explained.
“Society was different in India then, women dancers were not even considered respectable.
“Today it is very different, dancing has become a profession for women – it’s a different society with different values now.”
The duo were instrumental in getting the dance form recognised as one of the eight classical dances of India in 2000 leading to Menaka receiving the Ustad Bismallah Khan Yuva Puraskar award from the National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in India. This award is given to young outstanding practitioners up to the age of 35.
“I grew up watching my mother teach dance, I would come home to a hub of artists. I was never told to dance, I just grew up doing it,” Bora said.
“It has now been accepted in India that women dance Sattriya as a classical tradition. Classical dance needs female performers. The monks understand that and are happy as long as it is performed in the right way. You can’t just say that Sattriya is just a dance, it is a way of living,” she added.
Bora is fascinated by life in the Assamese monasteries of 16th century India, aiming to also understand the monks’ daily lives and how they were trained in cookery, hygiene and healing alongside Sattriya dance.
“To be a Sattriya dancer you have to go through so much training”, Bora said. So in her view the lifestyle of the monks cannot be separated from performing.
Sattriya is also an important aspect of Assamese cultural identity. “Everyone talks about it even if they don’t perform,” Bora said.
“This dance and music in Assam is a way of maintaining tradition and an identity, especially in India where there is not one identity and where we have regional identities. People use dance and music to establish their own regional identity,” she added.
Assam’s fabulous cultural achievements are often forgotten due to its geographical isolation and the Indian media which prefers to focus on political instability and conflict, she added.
At times Indian audiences have responded to Bora’s performances with statements of surprise and preconception – “we never thought Assam would have such a beautiful dance form”, is often the feedback she hears.
Bora aims to transcend national boundaries, connecting diverse peoples and cultures through her performances, whilst retaining the significance of her heritage.
At her performance at Asia House she will entwine spoken word into her performance to add explanation to what she is doing. Whilst the dance choreography will be firmly rooted in the 16th century tradition, it has her own personal touch.
“I hope to talk about my own experiences of being an artist from Assam in London and what it means, my problems, challenges and transnationalism. I call it Sattriya Dance Theatre because the form stays rooted but I add my own artistic representation of the form. It is the essence of a classical dance but presented in my own way. I guess I use a contemporary language so that people who haven’t been to India can relate to the dance.
“I feel I have a duty as an artist to bring Sattriya forward without disturbing the form.”
Since completing her PhD in London, Menaka has been based in Oxford and is focused on spreading awareness of Sattriya and “bringing high class professionalism to the form”.
Recently nominated as the first artist-in-residence of its kind at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, she is hopeful that Sattriya has a great future.
Francesca Walford is currently doing an internship at Asia House.
