DANCING IN INDIA
Lack of art sense among the Hindoos; dancing and the Brahmin
religion; the Apsarazases, Bayaderes and Devadazis; Hindoo music
and the dance; dancing in modern Indian; Fakir dances; philosophic
symbolism of the Indian dance.
The civilization of ancient India was, with the exception of China,
the only rival to that of Egypt. But it is remarkable that the Indian
mind took a totally different direction from the Egyptian. The tendency
towards spiritual expansion that manifested itself in Egypt and
Greece became in India a tendency towards concentration. The Indian
mind lacked the gift of observation and mathematical proportions, so
essential in art, that was possessed by the subjects of the Pharaohs.
For this reason we find a magnificent Indian philosophy and mystic
science, but an undeveloped feeling for æsthetic values. With the
exception of weird and bizarre architecture, that manifested itself
most powerfully in the pagodas and temples, the Indian sculpture,
painting, music and dancing are too primitive for our taste, as they
probably were for that of the ancient Egyptians and Greeks.
In all the Indian constructive arts, in their temple decorations and
frescoes, we find very few dancing figures, still fewer graceful
reproductions of the human body. Their gods and goddesses look to
us like monsters. The Indian Venera, to be seen in the Pagoda of
Bangilore, looks like a caricature, as compared with the Greek
Aphrodite. The Indian goddess of dancing, Ramble, who, according to
the legend, was a courtesan of Indra, and gave birth to two daughters,
Nandra (Luxury) and Bringa (Pleasure), lacks all the loftiness and
charm which surrounded the dancing goddesses of Egypt and Greece.
There is neither life nor grace in any of the Indian temple art. Even
the smile of Indian gods is stupid and inexpressive. The lack of
humor and joy mirrors itself best in the art of the Bayaderes, the
celebrated dancers of India. Their gestures and movements are void of
that exultant gaiety and optimism that predominates in dances of other
nations. An air of gloom and pessimism emanates from all the Indian art.
There is no doubt that the peculiarities of Indian music have been
obstacles to the development of the national dance. Although it is full
of color and feeling, yet the division of their scale into so many more
tone units than ours makes it extremely difficult for a dancer to catch
the delicate nuances and lines and reproduce them in movement. A few
dancing designs here and there give the impression that this art has
not changed during the four thousand years of the nation’s existence.
Since the whole Indian civilization is the same to-day that it was
thousands of years ago, we are pretty safe in our assumption that the
dances of the Bayaderes exhibited at Calcutta or Benares now were
pretty nearly the same during the life of Buddha. The modern dances,
like the old ones, show similarity in the fact that the Indian dancers
stand nearly at one spot and hardly move their feet, while mimicking,
and moving their body, arms, hands and fingers. The individual
peculiarity of all Indian dances lies in the impressionistic poses of
their hands and the body.
India deserves to be called the Land of a Thousand Religions. Religion
to an Indian represents everything. Like wisdom and life, dance is of
divine origin. From time immemorial dancing has been a part of Indian
temple ceremonies. The Brahmin religion is interwoven with beautiful
legends and myths, according to which dancing was the first blessing
that Brahma gave to mankind. One of the legends tells us that the
divine Tshamuda danced to music while standing on an egg and holding
a huge turtle on her back. In such a position she is to-day giving
performances to Brahma in the Nirvana. Such a magic Paradise, with
plenty of dancing and music, lasting from early morning till late in
evening, is promised after death to all faithful souls.
A widespread Indian legend is that which describes the magic dancing of
the Apsarazases, or divine nymphs, with which the Indian imagination
has populated every hill and brook. The only occupation of the
Apsarazases is singing and aerial dancing. For this purpose these
sacred nymphs are supplied with feathery wings which enable them to
fly freely in the air. Dancers who reach the very climax of their art
get magic wings like every Apsarazas and vanish alive from the earth.
This legend laid the foundation of the Indian sacred dances, which
were taught by the priests to young maidens kept specially for that
purpose near the temples. While the European tourist calls all Indian
dancers Bayaderes, regardless whether they give their performances
on the streets or in the temples, an Indian calls the temple dancers
Devadazis, or the ‘slaves of God.’ The common street or social dancer
is called Nautch Girl. The Indian Devadazis are raised and educated
much as are the Christian nuns. After being graduated from a dancing
school, the girls are taken by the priests to the temples in which they
give daily performances to the pilgrims and live as sacred courtesans
with the clergy.
The main function of the Devadazis consists in giving performances,
either singly or in groups, to the priests and the pilgrims. Some of
their dances take place in front of the pagodas, others inside. The
dancers always wear a long garment, covering their body and legs,
leaving only the hands and arms bare. Rich people can hire these
temple dancers to give performances in their homes, otherwise they
never appear outside the temple atmosphere. To an Indian dancer the
most important parts of her body are her breasts and fingers. Though
she appears in dance barefoot, frequently with rings in her toes, she
pays comparatively little attention to her feet. Many of the modern
Bayaderes wear an elaborate costume of yellow with wide pantalettes and
richly embroidered wraps around the shoulders, leaving arms and breasts
bare.
The music accompanying the dances of the Indian Bayaderes is produced
by an orchestra consisting of wood wind instruments similar to our
flute and oboe, a few string instruments, two different drums and a
few tambourines. The leader of the orchestra gives a sign by striking
certain brass plates and the Bayaderes, lifting their veils, advance
in front of the musicians and begin the dance. The dance, consisting
usually only of mimic expressions of two dancers, has a strange melody
and a stranger rhythm. Neither the music nor the dance can be compared
with anything known in our Western art. Now and then the feet beat
measure, otherwise there is little display of leg agility. The face,
particularly the eyes, of the Indian dancers are very expressive.
But the alphabet of the dance mimicry is so large that it requires a
special study in order to understand and appreciate the fine movements
of an artist.
All the Indian social ceremonies, such as marriage, birth and burial,
are celebrated with dancing and music. This is particularly true of
the social ceremonies of the rich. The standing of the dancers is high
in India, so that even in the palace of the Rajah dancers are treated
like the guests. In certain parts of India the Bayaderes have the
right to live as guests at any house without paying. Prince Uchtomsky,
who made a special study of Indian life and art, writes that in cities
visited by the European tourists one rarely gets a glimpse of the real
Bayaderes. According to him there are many Indian Bayadere dancers that
surpass in their suggestive power our most passionate ballets. Every
line of their miniature impressionism in dance has an exotic beauty
which implies more than it expresses.
The Indian dancers are usually women, though Pierre Loti writes that he
witnessed several dances performed by men. These dances, as described
by him, tally closely with those which the writer saw frequently
performed by various Mongolian tribes in South-Eastern Russia. But we
are inclined to think that these, being wild in their character, could
not be classified as dances of Indian origin.
To a certain class of Indian dancing belong the well-known fakir
dances, performed by begging pilgrims at public gatherings. These
represent the surviving fanaticism of an ancient sect. Their strange
performances are to be seen everywhere in Northern India. Absolutely
naked and with dishevelled hair, they moan, shriek and groan, jumping
wildly up and down and shaking their hands convulsively. When the
fanatical execution has reached its climax the fakirs stab themselves
with knives or hot irons until they fall into a trance. It is a kind
of Oriental ‘Death Dance.’ To an outsider it is unexplainable how they
can endure such self-torture for any length of time. In most cases the
knives that the fakirs use are so constructed that they do not go deep
into the body but scratch only the skin and produce slight wounds.
Though their bloody performances make a deep and shocking impression
upon the onlookers, yet dances of this kind cannot be classified as an
art.
The best dancers that India has ever produced are those who resembled
brooding philosophers and prophetic priestesses rather than pleasing
artists. The Indian conception of beauty lies in the spiritual and
intellectual and but little in the physical and æsthetic forms. The
main purpose of the great Indian _ballerinas_ is to inspire their
audiences to thought and meditation upon the great powers of nature
and the mystic purposes of human life. Their art is exotic and
introspective and lacks absolutely the element of purely beautiful
inspiration, produced by the great Western dancers. Those of our
Western students of art who make us believe that they can perform
genuine Indian dances are grossly mistaken, simply because the real
Indian dance is not an art and amusement, but the preaching of a
certain philosophy. Our materialistic logic is unable to catch the
subtle philosophic symbolism that appeals to an Indian mind. We are
brought up to enjoy the positive and not the negative plane of life.
For us beauty is joy, for the Hindus it is sorrow. An Indian dancer who
can move her audience to tears with her dancing will fail to make the
least impression upon our audiences.