Q and A with Pavitra Bhat

Pavitra Bhat

Critic Leela Venkataraman opened the Purush Conference by suggesting that emerging polarities between the male and female should not be treated as entrenched entities, but as two sides of the same reality, each validating the other, and perhaps giving a special identity to the other. Referencing sculptures in the Mukteswara and Puri temples in Orissa, she pointed out that they do not always lend themselves to popular perceptions of 'feminine' and 'masculine' movement. The arch of the Puri temple, for instance, features women in acrobatic bandha nritya poses – a dance that they are no longer encouraged to perform.

Is gender implicit in the dance or is it what the dancer brings to the performance? Or is it of no consequence altogether? How does one start by addressing the idea of the male Indian dancer through his place in society and in how he interprets representation and identity in performance to unpack terms like maleness, masculinity and effeminacy? Excerpts from a conversation with Bharatanatyam dancer Pavitra Bhat, who opened the conference by dancing to a section of Patanjali's Shambhu Natanam Sloka.

On the scarcity of male dancers (as opposed to male dance teachers) – does it translate into less competition, or less opportunities, or both?

You get to watch the best when there are only a few people around. Only the artist who really wants to work hard gets through. But you have to learn constantly. You teach and earn something from what you have learnt from your gurus, but you also continue to learn – when students ask me questions, I have to learn more to find answers. But I think it is the same for male and female dancers. If you simultaneously want to perform and teach, you have to start very early to maintain a balance.

Name five dancers who changed the game for dance in India, vis-a-vis the male dancer?

The dancers who did that made it more audience-friendly. We need to educate people to create an audience for classical dance. Birju Maharaj and Kelucharan Mohapatra are known for having that kind of connect. In Bharatanatyam, VP Dhananjayan and CV Chandrasekhar did the same. They worked on thematic performances, while retaining the technique and purity of the dance style. The performance may still be a margam, but by offering some kind of narrative or constant characterisation, it gives the audience something extra to engage with.

You have learnt from a man (Deeepak Mazumdar) and a woman (Anitha Guha). How does this training come together for you?

All my solos have been choreographed by Deepak sir. With Anitha aunty, I worked on a lot of thematic performances. I think their combined training really shaped me as a dancer. It's very strange, but the audience always told me that the grace in my dance has come from Deepak sir and the energy from Anitha aunty.

However, I feel that it is more apt when a man choreographs for a man, or if the male performer adds his own inputs to the choreography done by a woman. It just feels more apt.

What are the roles that you identify with most as a performer? Have you ever portrayed a woman, in performance?

I have always loved to play Krishna. There is grace in the abhinaya and the jatis add vigour. I feel that Natawara is closer to my heart than Nataraja. I also enjoy portraying a bhakta; Nandanar is my favourite bhakta.

I have never done female items on stage. I prefer to abstain from varnams or javalis that show the nayika bhava. I feel like there are a lot of women doing the nayika bhava pieces, and they do them well; why should I perform them too? It is a personal choice to do male-oriented pieces. But I have found two or three javalis in the voice of the man, and I perform them.

This morning, Leela Venkataraman spoke about bhakti poetry...devotional poetry, being very gendered in how it always portrays the worshipper as female and the worshipped as male. How do you interpret this when you dance as a bhakta?

I have never given this much thought. I would say that I just emote on stage. I am very devotional. I go to temples and read a lot of mythology. So I have always found the bhakti within myself and I love the bhakti element when I perform.