'Dance has been polarised...all bogus binaries' - Navtej Johar

Balagopal and he, as boys in Kalakshetra, had not been encouraged to dance the solo Bharata Natyam repertoire. "We were considered mainly Kathakali artists, who were taught Bharata Natyam so as to dance in the dramas. While I had done minor items in class which were male oriented, there were no suitable songs for boys. Only Rupamu joochi, a varnam in praise of Shiva. We did that varnam, dropping the line suma shara mulachewhere the nayika complains of being struck by the flower-arrows of Cupid. The padams were Natanam adinar, about the vigorous dance of Shiva, or the Ashtapadi Vadasiyadi, where Krishna cajoles an angry Radha. Balan and I learnt items such as the tillana on our own initiative, which did not go down well with some of the teachers. But because we were doing every possible role in the dance-dramas, the technical grounding was very strong. We could learn anything later on."

- From Master of Arts: A Life in Dance by Tulsi Badrinath

A response and further conversation with Navtej Johar

What was the style of dancing that were considered appropriate for men in Kalakshetra? Was there any difference in the training for men?

Navtej Johar

There wasn't really any different style at all. I think it changes from generation to generation, but in our generation there was absolutely none. It’s just that there were a few items, so to speak, which they thought were more suitable for men. It wasn't that men were encouraged to do only those things. That was the only thing, I would say. There were a couple of varnams that were more suitable for men, and now I can see why. Other than that, as far as technique was concerned, absolutely no difference. 

Not even the Kathakali training…

Not at all. Not at all. I was completely untouched by Kathakali. I was very close to Jannu Anna (Janardhanan Sir) and I learnt a lot from him, but I never …