Date: July 17,2006
Place: Taj West End
Occasion: CA All Hands Meeting
Being a Cisco all hands meeting, i was all curious to meet the Senior VP of the organization and never noticed the ensemble of programs in the list and so obviously did not do a research on what i was expecting to see as part of cultural activities which was planned for the evening. So i just glanced through the whole program list and did notice a "music and dance" program only. Well, it did not stir any emotions in me. I just thought - oh , here we go. Another boring round of dance and music like the Cisco day. (Cisco day was more of Bollywood & movies)
Meetings went off well and it was time for the cultural program. Many of the folks left as they were also not aware of what was in store for them. I was more interested in having "Sex On The Beach" cocktail. Well, do not take it literally but its a vodka based cocktail. I am a huge vodka fan as it doesnt give me a hangover and ZERO smell. Anyways, coming back to the main topic.
Program started with music. As they say "music" is a universal language - it was apparently visible with musician thrilling the desi and non desi crowd with some scintillating performances. Me being ignorant of the maestros on the stage - it did not hit me immediately the "greats" whom i was witnessing. I realised all that after loving the act and coming back and checking on my fav hangout - the WEB. Though i am not a "music" only loving fan - it did capture my imagination. I am more of a filmy buff bought up on a staple diet of filmy Rahmanesque musik and rock/pop stuff. This was something new to me. I had visited some stage shows in Kansas but they were more of amteurs. I should say this was my first "professional" insight into world of Indian music. And man, wasnt i impressed. All along, i could feel some sections of the crowd deeply immersed in the happenings and some sections bored with the whole deal and chatting away. One thing hit me at that instant which is making me write this.
Who is an Artist? Is Artists main goal to make money or display his talent or just enjoy what he is doing? Is it demeaning to perform in front of people who dont have a clue of music? Is it wrong to perform just for money in front of ignorant people? Lots of questions were running hrough my mind and i had answers which were also fluctuating between the extremes. Well, i have created a poll for this which i hope i get public opinion.
Coming on the dance performance, my hopes soared as the previous program was a good one. Announcements were made and there was a buzz in the hall. It started of with the Ganesha vandane and it was good. With the announcements, i could realise that this was not just contemporary dances. This group is called as STEM and the motto of the group is "Dance needs to move away from the shackles of rigidity to become moremeaningful."
We all could immediately see the difference. Combination of martial arts(kalaripayattu) with dance, fusion of Kathak and Spanish which was the best i could see in my life. Wow! And to hear how this dance originated was interesting. Saw many many dances and not a person stirred and many folks did not even breathe and i could see most of them were in awe. I should say ALL of them were in awe.
I realised that the success of both the performance was FUSION. EAST meets WEST. FUSION is the key aint it. When the whole EAST is moving towards WEST and WEST is running to embrace EAST - FUSION happens everywhere and proves "WORLD IS FLAT". Hey, we need to have best of both the worlds aint it. I totally agree with this dance form preached by this group. If you want details , please refer to this website and try to attend a show by them. Trust me, if you have an iota of interest towards ART - u will love it.
http://www.stemdancekampni.in/
This is not a referral but sincere appreciation of art.
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