Reviews

Readings on dance from 75 years of Marg

The very word Marg, aptly named The Path evokes the image of a path finder, trend setter and harbinger of great future for art, all in good measure. Started in 1946, by Mulk Raj Anand, a prolific writer, makes the histories of Marg and Independent India contiguous, a sister act so to say, sharing a common historical journey thereon.

Readings on Dance From 75 years of Marg highlights the shifts in the focus of dance history over the past 75 years The opening words of the editors provide a clear indication of the task the commemorative issue sets out to accomplish. They stated that in the pages that follow, they would explore how the time and resources to transmit the vocabularies of gesture, movement, and posture have been ensured by elaborate systems of patronage, including royal, religious, martial, and community-based support.

The objective is to examine the structure, substance, intent, outcomes, and potential achievements or shortcomings of this unique edition as it reflects on the past 75 years. It aims to tackle the issues and challenges confronting art, exploring viable solutions or approaches to address them satisfactorily. The Editors have provided concise introductions to each section and article, explaining their relevance to this edition. Notably, the inclusion of cross-references between magazine issues and essays within the same domain signifies a progression or the adoption of a multi-disciplinary approach across various domains—an aspect worth noting

#      The different sections being Heredity, Heritage and Arts Patronage, Regional Performances and Living Traditions, Presenting and Representing the classical, The guru, sishya and parampara, Dancing in Contemporary Times, show a good selection of categories and elements of the performing arts, covering the gamut of classical, folk, tribal, social, ritualistic and what have you.

#      The first section seems a good start given the historical aspects covered. However the selection of chapter headings doesn’t seem to follow a particular pattern-maybe intentional but Sec III, followed by Sec IV better placed after Sec I. The historical chronology has been maintained only within the articles themselves, not in the overall structure of the issue. Atleast a conscious attempt to do so, may have avoided an impression of disconnected sequences.

#      Inclusion of photographs has always been the highlight of Marg Issues. Shot by brilliant and renowned photographers, they are clear, stunning, imaginatively conceived (pgs 28, 59, 65), mix of black and white vignettes (pg 29) and polychromatic colour shades; portraits (pg 113) and in action (pg 85). Most of them are vintage, not randomly chosen. Pictures by Avinash Parischa, Mohan Khokkar stun with the added angle of animation. Illustrations by artists the likes of Shiavax Chavda, Feliks Topolski, mark many of the earlier volumes. They reveal both the movement and the mood of the performer and at once the impact on the artist.

#      Marg was one of the first to commission the pictorial (illustrations, then photographs) representation of the adavus or basic dance movements of the present day Bharatanatyam and other forms.

#      As regards the content, the main requirements of a collector’s issue are three fold: range, research and reach. Marg over the years has fulfilled this in ample measure and Marg ’75 to a great extent. The challenge for this volume has been to encapsulate the former in the latter, as expressed by the editors in their introduction. It has been met head on in putting together a collection as diverse, eclectic and open-ended as possible, yet bound together with a common cultural consciousness of art practice, promotion and preservation.

#      One of the earliest journals to insist on notes and references for all articles, it has been a researcher’s goldmine. By giving equal and unbiased representation to all art forms, it     has satisfied the cognoscenti and the common man. Never one to shy away from asking pertinent, often uncomfortable questions and raising issues that matter, the present volume reflects the same approach.

#      Certain ideas and concepts, repeated or reinforced over several Marg issues have often been clubbed together or summarised in the brief introductions to each essay. It seems to project an inadvertent assumption that the reader may have read all of them. A case in point is the unique picture essay by Padma Subrahmanyam (pg 108), done at the behest of Mulk Raj Anand himself in the 1970s. The staff notation for the same was brought out in another Marg issue as well. However by placing the Karana panel visuals along with the photographs of the adavu movements in the same chapter, two totally different terminologies, separated in usage by time and text, have been juxtaposed. Without the relevant accompanying note, this can confuse a lay reader.

#      While it is a marketing strategy to grab eyeballs by opening with photographs, it does change the trajectory of thought as to what lies ahead- a photo gallery based issue or a collection of seriously researched essays. Again a tendency to project the revivalists post independence, as a group of elitists who hijacked the art form from traditional practitioners, is a populist but simplistic reading of the situation (pg 12, 126). The real culprits were the earlier invading and latter colonial powers whose impact on the socio-politico-cultural scene sent the arts on a downward spree, splitting the art community, both horizontally and vertically. Marg has always been the unifying path, the common substratum for all strata of society. To highlight otherwise would be falling into a well laid trap, to our peril.

#      Pen portrait essays of some of the greatest contributors to art, whether the Maharaj brothers of Kathak, Tanjavur Quartet of Bharatanatyam, modern dancers like Uday Shankar, all have been done justice to, Several classical, folk, and theatrical traditions have gained substantial exposure due to the articles in the Marg. A few: Manipuri, Mohiniattam, Odissi, Kuchipudi, Sattra, Bhagavatha Mela, Theyyam, Chau, dance in films and contemporary dance have been included in this issue.

Overall Marg 75 has carried the tradition of well-researche, yet readable essays, good paper quality, glossy finish, excellent art work, creative branding even in the ads being artistically done. The insistence on the ‘unsize’ size has been both a boon and a bane, especially in the digital age of the mobile and Kindle. It is definitely not a book you can take to bed to read. It needs your full attention in an upright posture, in keeping with its uncompromising stance on all matters art. This magazine needs our readership and support for the relentless fidelity to art promotion and preservation.

 To merely congratulate the editors and the publishing house would be a small compliment, given the daunting task of cherry picking gems from a 75 year old publication on a several millennia old tradition. That said, Kudos!!


                                                                                                            -Rajshree Vasudevan

The author is a Bharatanatyam exponent and the Founder-Ideator, Spanda Abhinava Holistic Initiative (SAHI)

 

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