AN INTERVIEW WITH MALAVIKA SARUKKAI

What prompted you to do a production on Khajuraho?

I had read an article by Kirti Dwivedi long ago, on Khajuraho. The article inspired me. He spoke about architecture and the temple as the Cosmos. Khajuraho temples, as a site for classical dance, had a special significance for me. Khajuraho was a very personal response of an artiste. It isn't a scholarly structure. It is a structure that comes from my heart. It was a tribute to architecture, sculptors, to space and sacredness. Sacredness I think is very important. All my productions have sacredness flowing through it. Dance is sacred. Movement is sacred. Dance according to me is points of stillness with movement.

Dance is not just movement. There is a lot of silence too. You can see this in Khajuraho. It starts with stillness and then there is a whole expansion - the outer world, the war, the emotions…. and then it goes back to silence. I think with Khajuraho I am touching a deeper level. My quest is now to search more in that direction.

How important is creativity in a dancer's life?

You have to be creative. You have to be fertile. When you do a production, it is like birth. You have held it for so long within you and finally when you have given it a shape in the form of a presentation on stage, you feel happy.

Yes. Tradition has to change if it has to be valid for the people. I have changed my repertoire. I changed, because I felt the need to, but I think it is deeply classical. People associate Bharatanatyam with repertoire. It is not. It is style, it is language of movement, a language of expression. I am sensitive and serious about the classical solo form. I feel responsible to keep it alive for my audiences. It is very difficult to be classical and bring in contemporary elements. It is really a challenge. It is necessary for me, as a dancer who believes in the classical, to take it forward without losing its sacredness. It has a lot to do with technique. Not only outward technique, but a lot of 'internalisation' too. Otherwise I could not have done Khajuraho the way I did it. Dance has to be living. Dance should be in the forefront. You are not.

No, they don't. Everyone can't dance. It is a gift of God. It is graced from above. If parents find that the child can dance, then they have to make a major prioritization in their life. To give her the best environment, the best approach. Commitment can come only from the individual. To succeed, you have to be fiercely passionate about what you are doing.

I think I am seen as that. A lot of people try to copy me. That's okay. People say I have the ability to take a movement or an idea the way I interpret it, the way I perform it, much beyond the canvas which people see, into a much larger canvas. If this inspires the next generation of dancers to say, "Let's make or find our own canvas", then I am happy.

Chennai is a city that leaves you alone. I like that. It gives me space to do the work that I want to do. I have my scholar friends here, whom I can talk to. It is home for me.

I like the Police headquarters on the beach. It is really beautiful. I also like the small lanes around the temples. It has that typical temple flavour.

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