She is a person with many facets to her life.  Anita Ratnam, for the uninitiated, is a trained Indian classical dancer (Bharatanatyam, Kathakali and Mohiniattam), theatre person, writer and cultural commentator, to name a few.

Known to the world of theatre and dance, not just in India but across the globe, Anita feels Bangalore has a sense of freshness. “I absolutely love coming to this City. It’s got a spirit of openness and I find a lot of intermingling among dancers here. Traffic, though, is the only deterrent. It’s crazy!”

Sipping on hot filter coffee, perfect for a cold morning, Anita goes on to define her form of dance. She argues that it does not belong to the classical category like it is perceived to be. It is, actually contemporary form that she has evolved during her journey as a dancer. “My performances, though appear to be classical, is clearly not. Theatre has influenced my performances and one can notice that when I am on stage. My work does not, or rather cannot, entertain people. It is not for people of all seasons. I do believe in creating a balance between what people want to see and what I want to present but at the end of the day, you have to come home to yourself. You have to be honest with your body.”

Having toured the globe and being familiar among art connoisseurs abroad, she does feel it is a huge challenge to build an audience in India. “We have a whole generation of Resident Non Indians or RNI, as I call them, who come to my performance expecting something entirely different. I have also come to realise that we are assaulted by so much noise around us that on many occasions I am asked why my performances are so quiet. Why wasn’t there any jumping or some such action,” she says, adding that another disappointing trend is a steady shift in focus from the dance to just the dancer.

Coming from a family of pioneers, as she calls it, Anita has always been inculcated to give back to the society. “I remember being told that I must strive to achieve what is important. Go out in the storm, you’re not going to melt, my family told me. Also that if I have a gift, I must find a way to share it with others.”

And for this, a lot of her time is spent in educating people on culture and the art which is possible through Arangham, an organisation in Chennai, started by her in 1992, which is involved in the promotion of performing arts.

There is a need to be able to create an interest in dance among the younger generation, she believes. “Their attention span is short and along with education, we must try and understand what can draw them to dance because we all have the cultural vein still running in us. Most importantly, keep the performance short and crisp because sometimes less is more. End it when the audience feels like they could have watched more. Which is why I restrict my performances to a 55 to 75-minute show,” says she.

Presently, she surely has her hands full — with dance, her PhD on women’s studies, documenting a book on dance costume, working on future performances such as ‘Geometry’ (with Madhu Natraj) and ‘White’ along with a short contemporary work. “There is much to do and it’s not easy to always organise things and go by it. In fact, sometimes a little bit of anarchy and disorder works.”

“That’s what makes for a challenge,” says Anita. 

Absolutely graceful at 51, Anita believes it is an age to celebrate.

“I don’t want to be the person about whom people know everything about. There must always be a little enigma attached to me. I still have questions that need answers and I hope I will find them through dance and my journey with the audience.”

Solo performance

Anita Ratnam recently presented in the City her much toured and popular solo performance — ‘Neelam... drowning in bliss’. Comprising three sections, Anita explained that the tone is traditional with temple chants and hymns from the 7th to the 18th century. “It has a strong vein of bhakti and along with recorded music, I have used spoken words in the form of chants to enhance the experience of the performance. When I start off, the costume is masculine neck down and feminine neck up. This challenges the visual design, creates a tension and probably shocks the audience a bit. But that’s what makes the dance form unique.”