Analysis | Problems in Examination System

Analysis | Design opprtunities

3.2 | Examination System

Examination system: Regular yearly examinations are carried out by certified institutes to keep a check if the students learning. The examination levels are as follows:

• Parichay (No official exam)
• Prarambhik (No official exam)
• Praveshika Pratham (Practical + Viva)
• Praveshika Purna (Practical + Viva)
• Madhyama Pratham (Practical + Viva + Written Theory)
• Madhyama Purna (Practical + Viva + Written Theory)
• Visharad Pratham (Practical + Viva + Written Theory)
• Visharad Dvitiya (Practical + Viva + Written Theory)

3.1 | Understanding the learning process

Practical learning: The dance lessons are often carried out in lecture demonstration way in huge halls where the students can freely express themselves. The teacher (sometimes the assistant, who is a senior student) demonstrates and the students follow.

Learning Grammar: The gestures and basic movements are refined through regular practice sessions. They are taught in groups timely revised till the students have understood.

Practice sessions: The students revise the newly learnt syllabus under the observation of the senior students till they master it.

Theory subjects: Printed notes are provided to the students to refer to the theory syllabus. Often they start preparing for the exam a month before the exam schedules.

Common queries: The parents are often concerned about the exams especially the theory. The fear of theory exams often gives the students a reason to discontinue their learning.

Language barriers: The available notes and reference material are available in language level which is difficult for the target group to interpret and understand.

Helpless parents: The parents are unaware of the dance basics and thus are unable to help their children with the theory aspect of dance. They expect all the queries of their little ones to be explained by the dance institute themself so that it would not hamper their child’s growth in the field of interest.

All-text format: No visual reference makes the young learners difficult to understand the subject which already contains complex subject matter and terminologies with difficult pronunciations unlike their school syllabus.

2.6 | Interaction with non-dancers and non-classical dancers

Difficult to understand: Classical dance forms are often considered as difficult to interpret by the common audience.

Domination by female dancers: There is a majority of females taking up classical dance training as against western dance forms where the numbers are almost equal.

Music ignorance: The music used in classical dance forms is classical music which is again not understood and appreciated by all. The lack of training in music also, scares many of them away.

Western dance easy to grasp: Adapting the body to contemporary dance forms is rather easier and it is possible to create professionals in lesser time as compared to classical dances.

Easy access to learning contemporary styles: The sources to learn western classical dance forms are plenty. One can also take online classes and imitate to learn these dance forms.

Costume: The costumes of the classical dancers are very traditional which contradict the choice of youth today. Also they are easily available.

Not known to all: The classical dance forms are not so common to the masses and it still continues to have a niche group who actually experience and appreciate the performances.

Find it boring: The classical performances are often tagged as boring by the people who have been unexposed to these dance forms.

Quick learning: Western dance forms offer crash courses and can be learnt in no time unlike classical dance forms which require intense training for years together.

Abundance of opportunities: There are plenty of opportunities where the young people can showcase their talent (TV shows, competitions, performances, Bollywood)

Fame and glamour added: The competitions and TV shows provide quick fame and glamour attracting more and more people towards the non-classical dance forms.

Western understood by all: Western dance forms are known to all, loved by many, popular everywhere and understood by all kinds of audience.

2.5 | Interaction with promotional activists | Key Findings

Connect to inner self: The satvik lifestyle gets you closer to your inside; connects you to your inner self

Ignorance of heritage: Ignorance about Indian heritage among the younger generations

Embracing the Indian: Encourage youngsters to embrace the best of what is available through all the cultures worldwide, but not at the cost of what is ours

Lack of exposure: Lack of exposure of classical performances as against strong influences from the west

Sense of appreciation: Need to create awareness and develop appreciation for the classic art forms.

Spiritual experience: Understanding the spiritual aspect rather than just treating them as pure entertainment.

Encourage a questioning mind: What we Indians have is abstract, subtle, mystical and inspiring. Encouraging having a questioning mind, which way are we headed?

Essence of anubhava: Understanding the essence of anubhava i.e. feel through experiencing

Instant gratification: Disadvantage of expectations of instant gratification

Importance of yoga: Encouraging the practice of yoga among the young crowd

Safeguard civilization: Encouraging the young minds to preserve our heritage and not let our civilization go to museum someday

2.4 | Interaction with new (junior) students

Enormous appetite for learning: Children have an enormous appetite for learning.

Willingness to learn: In majority of cases students are learning classical dance forms on their own will. They are introduced by the parents to the dance form through observation of a session and they are willing to learn it for themselves.

Enthusiastic: Like all children, they are full of energy and enthusiasm spinning out of control. At the end of sessions if anyone is drained, it is the instructors.

Learning through stories: Teachers if involve them in a way that I can hold their attention, for example using stories adds to the fun in learning experience.

Excitement of learning new things: They are found attentive and excited with wide eyes every time with a hope of learning something new. Being able to perform something new makes them excited to learn more.

Relation to their world goes long way: If the teaching methods include the mentioning of their worlds or the things they can relate to, they seem more interested.

Understood best through fun and games: Fun surprising exercises in a language they understand best, are carried out every now and then are very helpful in holding their attention and retaining their interest.

Concern if missed out: They don’t like the feeling of missing out on what is being taught. Not attending classes or arriving late becomes a concern for them.

Questioning mind: They have a very interesting questioning mind developed at this age which needs constant fodder.

Building relationships: They are very affectionate with the teacher who teaches them. Also tend to form long lasting friendships as they share common interests.

Crave for individual attention: Majority of the students in this age group want to stand out in the group for performing the best.

Acknowledgement: Almost all the students like being appreciated during the dance sessions. A simple acknowledgement can go a long way to give the child a boost and reason to continue pouring efforts.

2.3 | Interaction with Parents | Key Findings

Lack of exposure about classical forms in schools: Although few education institutions understand the need of making young generations culturally conscious, majority still lack sufficient exposure to classical art forms which are a part of our cultural heritage.

Unsatisfactory learning experience in schools: They feel that the teaching methods in educational institutes do not carry a serious approach keeping the learning experience unsatisfactory.

Make children culturally conscious: Many parents believe, that by making their children learn classical dance, they would automatically expose them to the rich mythological stories, music and literature.

Dance as a hobby: Many parents enrol their children in dance institutes to pursue it as a hobby/ extracurricular activity.

Physical fitness: The beliefs that dance are the best form of physical fitness attracts many parents to classical dance institutes.

Teach to be confident, organized and disciplined: Many believe that rigorous classical dance training is a good way to teach the children discipline and organisation.  Also, overcoming stage fright and building confident personalities are common expectations from the training.

Difficult to understand: The dance language is often unfamiliar for the parents and thus helping the young ones with the practice sessions becomes very difficult.

Language inconvenience: The textual format with difficult language becomes difficult for the small children to interpret, understand, remember and recall.

Base to learn any other dance form: Parents feel that learning classical dance form is like a base so that one can further learn different styles with ease.

Lapse of time makes recall value low: As most of the dance classes are scheduled over the weekends, the lapse time between the sessions becomes pretty long for the little ones taking them back to square one.

Self-learning not possible: Majority parents believe, classical dance forms cannot be self-learnt unlike many of the contemporary western styles, which can be learnt by watching TV.

2.3 | Conclusions:

• Unaware of the benefits themselvesExpect to make every day count
• Expect acknowledgement and individual attention to learn better
• Expect equal content for value of money institutes charge
• Expect professional attitude like any other contemporary dance institute
• Expectation of quick results
• Difficult to help child with practice sessions
• Difficult to help child with practice sessions
• Learning continuity is disturbed by academics

2.2 | Interaction with (senior) performing students| Key Findings

No comparison with newer popular form: Dancers and senior students say that it's not possible to compare classical dance forms with Bollywood dance, salsa, tango and other newer and equally popular forms.

Base for other dance forms: For a classical dancer to attempt western form of dance is easier than it is for a primarily western style dancer to perform classical. Classical dance is like a base to all other dance forms.

Lack of awareness: Lack of awareness in the society is surprising, as dance is our cultural identity which is showcased and appreciated on the global platform.

Value based learning: Classical dance training involves not just physical dance but emotional and mental growth resulting in overall personality development.

Sensitizing audience: Majority of the audience is ignorant about the classical dance forms resulting in the lack of popularity and demand for classical performances.

Distortion of art forms: In the modern day scenario where fusion is the current buzzword, experimentation is often replaced by distortion.

Lack of opportunities: The lack of enough exposure in the field of dance and also lack of exposure as a young debutant are often the reasons why classical dances are the least preferred.

Classical dance in backlight: In the dance reality shows classical dance forms always remain in the backlight. Personally they feel they would love to see Indian classical contestant win, after all it is an Indian show and should showcase best in Indian dance.

Multi-fold benefits: The classical dance learning comes with multi-fold benefits but the parents should be made aware of them so that they would encourage their child.

Generation Gap: There is this generation gap between the senior artists and the new young generation of artists willing to experiment which makes it difficult to define the differentiating line between traditional and contemporary.

Continuity rather than enrolment: The problem with dance institutes is continuity rather than enrolment because each year the institutes are full of new bright faces which are lost in next few years that follow.

2.2 | Conclusions:

• Need for opportunities for the budding artists to showcase their talent
• Need for platforms where the dance communities could be connected to interact and critically analyse the existing classical dance scenario
• Taking measures to stop the distortion of classical dance forms and making the audience aware of what classical dance forms are all about
• Encouraging the new learners to continue learning
• Need a bridge to draw common guidelines between the traditional gurus and contemporary performers
• Living with the age and making significant changes wherever needed

2.1 | Interaction with Dance teachers | Key Findings

Dances governed by grammar: Classical dance is a complete language in itself and without undergoing the rigorous grammatical learning one cannot master the language.

Time investment - a must: Learning classical dance is a form of commitment for many years and is NOT recommended for those who are in search for instant gratification or who are looking to perform on stage within a few months. 

Focus quality, not quantity: They believe there is a section of people, although a smaller section, inclined towards classical dance and they give it their all.

Transition from Guru-Shishya to Teacher-student:  With the institutionalisation of classical dance forms, the one-to-one method of dance training more or less disintegrated.

Value based learning: The classical dance learning immensely depends on the trust and faith the student has in the guru and demands a great deal of patience and dedication.

Passion driven: It can be pursued only by the one who really chooses to embrace it with passion and inner happiness.

The health benefits: Classical dance is like artistic yoga. It is not just the body but also the mind which is involved. The spiritual and emotional intelligence which is developed is an added benefit.

Importance of classical learning: Unfortunately, the development of human emotions has not received sufficient attention which is due to it in our educational institutions. Education in aesthetics though classical dance forms is as essential as if not more than mere intellectual or physical education. The accelerated pace of globalisation has brought in new ideas, cultures, changing both the physical environment and cultural patterns. As a result cultural identities are being lost. 

Lack of modern day teaching/learning techniques: We are way past the phase where the students learnt dance in the gurukul system. It is important for the modern institutions to adapt to the new techniques to provide knowledge material to the younger generations in a way that is relevant to them.

Incomplete knowledge is dangerous: Many educational institutes include the classical dance training as a part of their curriculum to make the younger generations culturally conscious. The part that they miss out on is the theory aspect of dance. Classical dance is a complete language in itself and without undergoing the rigorous grammatical learning one cannot master the language

Experimentation confused with distortion: The key is to maintain the high and exacting standard the art is famous for, no matter what. The classical dance gives you liberty to explore the dance form but at the same time it is defined by a certain set of rules. The distortion of the dance language is not acceptable.

Buzzword globalisation: Indians more acceptable and tolerant towards change. India’s rich and ornate culture has either been side-lined or covered with the dust of time, misinterpreted due to lack of significant standardized knowledge material.

Popular western trends and Media impact: Learning western dance styles have become a status symbol and a style statement among young generations. International dance styles are favoured by majority choreographers of the popular dance reality shows where classical dances remain at the backlight. Bollywood sometimes tends to misguide the youth relying on the popular trends.

Relevance of subject matter of communication to reach masses: Experimentation is imperative for art forms. The classical form - gestures, movements, gaits and pirouettes should be set but there is always scope for experimentation with the subject matter.

Challenging career option: Growing as a dancer with the due respect is difficult in today's world due to the lack of awareness in our society.

Keeping pace with technology: Commercialization and professionalism in modern context is essential for classical dance forms today, to reach to the people and popularize.

2.1 | Conclusions:

• Defining classical dance identity on a global platform
• Encouraging continuity in the initial learning phase of classical dance
• Creating a standardisation to check form distortion in the immediate future
• Need of creating the awareness of right attitude towards classical dance forms among parents and students 
• Making people aware of the benefits
• Requirement of relevant and accessible knowledge material for the youth
• Encouraging media platforms to focus on classical dance forms
• Preventive measures of saving classical dances from being dying art forms

1.3 | Classical dance on a global platform

• In India, all our Classical Dance forms have their roots in our cultural heritage, religions and legends connected to them, which make our country on of its kind.
• The national public sphere is now a contested terrain, where the mysterious classical dances that were once the domain of the rich and privileged in Indian society are increasingly being reinvented by a wide range of urbanites, who are primarily women.
• The classical Indian dance is undergoing a critical transition under the impact of television, video, news magazines, public dance festivals, and an increasing patronage by private corporations and regional government. 
• The shaping of cultural identity and state by popular and/or national cultural practices is an important area of concern. The greatness or littleness of the nation in the future is to a very large extent, dependent on how the youth of today are trained.
• The classical dance forms have gone global as the masters of different classical dance forms have represented Indian culture worldwide gaining the importance and appreciation for these dance styles. They have managed to attract global audience to appreciate and also undertake classical dance learning thus creating a global symbol of Indian culture.
• Europe has become something like a second home to Indian arts. What New York is now seeing is a wave of popularity for Indian dances among non-Indian audiences. The dances range from pure classical to re-imagine classical.

1.2 | Understanding the impact of globalisation | Key Findings

• Easy availability of internet
• Heavy influx of foreign culture
• Breaking borders, world coming closer
• Indians more acceptable and tolerant
• Cultural identity is being lost
• Lack of awareness and concern
• Thoughtless planning in the past
• Misinterpretation of culture

1.1 | Understanding the Classical Dance scenario today | Subject experts

a. | Pandit Birju Maharaj | Kathak maestro

Kathak maestro Pandit Birju Maharaj had a dream of opening a dance-school and Kalashram is the real-face of the dream. In Kalashram, the students are trained in the field of Kathak, and other associated disciplines like vocal and instrumental music, yoga, painting, Sanskrit, dramatics, stagecraft etc.

The classrooms, practice halls and amphitheatre of Kalarshram reflect a shade of rural setup in the busy and fast urban lifestyle. The natural atmosphere, with numerous trees and ponds would be extremely inspiring and would bring everyone close to the simple, unassuming but rich heritage of the country. 

The objective of the institute is primarily to produce highly talented students who would not only prove worthy of the training they receive, but also live as modest, humble and disciplined members of today's society.

b. |Geeta Chandran | the language of Dance

Geeta Chandran, a renowned artist  who has synthesised the knowledge she has received from her Gurus to imprint Bharatanatyam with her personal vision of the dance. In her dance presentations Geeta CHandran skilfully weaves abstract notions of joy, beauty, values, aspiration, myth and spirituality.

She aptly states that Indian classical dance as the collective symbol for everything India has to offer to the world. The range of poetry, classical music, Indian philosophy, spirituality, mythology, stories of our land, best of the weaves and jewellery we have to offer.

It is a combination of expression, rhythm and melody. Classical dance is a language and for one to master it s/he has to go through the complete dictionary which takes a lot of time, patience and efforts.Classical dance requires the involvement of the entire body to communicate. The essence of dance has always been to nurture the soul and to seep in tradition.

c. | Kumudini Lakhia | Present and future of kathak

Kumudini Lakhia founded the Kadamb Centre of Dance and Music, an Ahmedabad based school of instruction that favors dialogue over dominance. She believes that traditional knowledge can be the spring board for innovation in thought and action. Below lines are an extract from an interview where she talks about the new vocabulary of kathak.

"Our teaching today has to be different — based on mutual respect between student and teacher. When I ask a student to do a particular movement, I ask the other students about how they feel about what was done. Do they feel they can improve upon it and if so how? So I respect their mind and also slowly develop the student’s critical faculty. Dancers must think and observe life around them. They must read a lot.Look at the great Kathak institutions with grand libraries stacked with books which are never read. How many students go to the library?”

We must teach our dancers to respect their bodies. To have dignity in their own bodies is something old teachers never taught us. So the female dancers were almost furtive in the way they held their bodies.

You can’t leave persons on an open field and say dance. Everything needs programming. Why have the IT and Science industry been doing so well in India today; because they are in the hands of thinking minds.

 Kathak needs serious thought. Just using the best of dancers in a balancing act each time is not the right attitude. Area, Space, money — Yes, all these are needed. But these are not going to produce great art. We cannot have thousands of mindless dancers just mechanically dancing in mind-blowing virtuosity create anything for Kathak. We need a commander who takes charge with his mind. Students must think and create. This is a world of ideas. No mechanical dancing disassociated from the mind will do. Kathak has the body. Give it the mind it needs. That is the future.”

d. | Shama Bhate | Creating new idiom of kathak

Shama Bhate brings to her dance a holistic understanding of the Kathak tradition. A disciple of Guru Smt Rohini Bhate, she was blessed with special insight from her close association with Pt Mohanrao Kallianpurkar and, later, with Kathak maestro Pt Birju Maharaj. 

She has created her own idiom of Kathak, blending it with special inputs from Pt Suresh Talwalkar in tala and laya. This idiom has evolved over the years and is a remarkable blend of virtuosity and abhinaya, revealing the high degree of classicism Shama has imbibed from her gurus. Her perspective on the dance form allows her to choreograph abstract subjects and contemporary themes with equal ease.

Shama Bhate feels that experimentation is imperative for art forms. She believes holding on to the classicism while presenting it in a new format. The classical form - gestures, movements, gaits and pirouettes should be set but there is always scope for experimentation with the subject matter.

e. | Mallika Sarabhai | Dance to change the world

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LzX36s_hcs

Mallika Sarabhai is one of India’s leading choreographers and dancers, in constant demand as a soloist and with her own dance company, Darpana, creating and performing both classical and contemporary works. Mallika is an acclaimed and much awarded dancer in the Indian classical styles of Bharata Natyam and Kuchipudi.

In the following TEDtalk, she talks about dance as a communication medium. One of the most striking element of her talk is:

"Art can reach through. The only problem with our planners of the world is that they have always treated the arts as a cherry on the cake when it has to be the yeast"

f. | Aditi Mangaldas | Spirit of exploration

Aditi Mangaldas is a renowned Kathak dancer and choreographer, who works with the traditional repertoire of Kathak. With extensive training under the leading gurus of Kathak, Shrimati Kumudini Lakhia and Pandit Birju Maharaj, Aditi is today recognised for her artistry, technique, eloquence and characteristic energy that mark every performance. She started her own dance institution in Delhi, the Drishtikon Dance Foundation, where she is the artistic director and principal dance.

She learnt from Kumudini Lakhia the essence of dance, the courage to be free and fearless, the ability tounderstand the relation of my body to the space that surrounds me. From her second guru, Shri Birju Maharaj, the scion of the traditional kathak family and India's greatest kathak maestro, she learnt to love dance as though it were human, to feel its all-encompassing beauty, to centre myself within our body.

She looks at the ancient dance form of kathak with a modern mind. She works with the dynamism of kathak, and strengthens it with the yoga spine.