Why dance competitions

Recently, a charming and articulate young woman called to inform me of a wonderful opportunity for my students to participate in a national classical dance competition in a city over 1,000 km away from Delhi, where I live and teach. I inquired whether basic costs for dancers would be covered and got the non sequitur response that there was only a small registration fee to be paid.

I am absolutely puzzled as to why any parent would take their child across the country to dance in an auditorium for the parents of other children who have also spent a bundle on travel and accommodation and registration. College and school talent shows are a great way to share your dance with friends and peers, with or without a prize. Besides annual dance school recitals, there are many other opportunities to perform if one wishes to share the art, but first one has to consider what a dance student and his or her parents think they will gain from self-sponsorship to participate in a commercial competition.

Do dance students and parents think that they think they will be “discovered” Do they desire this to validate their interest and ability in dance Do they feel it is the only way to have an opportunity to perform the dance they love to do Are they afraid their dance “is no good” unless they have a prize Do they think a certificate of participation in such commercial competitions will be more valuable on their CV than a letter of appreciation from an NGO for a volunteer performance

As parents, we all are more than willing to give our children all the learning opportunities we can manage, so spending money for competitions is not the main issue. The question is do these competitions further the values of learning and performing classical dance or any art form

To start with, do you consider classical dance to be an art or simply a skill If it simply a skill, equivalent to how many objects you can juggle in the air or how many somersaults you can do in a row, then perhaps a competition is the correct arena to prove one’s excellence. If, however, you think of classical dance as an art where the skill of learning the form is simply the foundation for the individual expression of an aesthetic — if not metaphysical — experience, then competition is actually demeaning of individual worth.

Of course all artists are not equal, but at every level, kal-ke-kalakar or maestro, they are offering to audiences the gift of their art and life till date. I recall the answer of the foremost Indian classical music impresario of North America, Dr. Balwant Dixit, to the question, “Which vocalist is better, Bhimsen Joshi or Pt Jasraj ” He would simply say that “When an artist achieves a certain level, no one is best; it is simply an individual rasika’s aesthetic choice.”

Young dancers grow as artists by performance practice. If the desire to perform and share the art is a motivation to pay to have stage space in a competition, consider the alternatives of dancing in a temple or for any NGO. When my students danced for a group of children undergoing cancer treatment at a weekly CanKids meeting centre, they returned with stars in their eyes and a glow, saying it was so much more fulfilling than dancing at a stage performance. The children had a unique opportunity to see the costumes, ornaments and live performance of Odissi and it was a great experience to share the art with them. Similarly, any home for the aged would welcome a short or long dance presentation, as would a Nari Niketan, orphanage or school for specially-abled children. There are a multitude of organisations where any dancer will find a readymade and extremely appreciative audience, including Lions’ and Rotary Clubs.

Performing in a temple is a superb way for a dancer to be focused on the dance as an offering of art rather than simply showing off the self. I know professional dancers who only performed in temples in their early years. This honed their profoundly moving performance abilities that might have never been achieved if the focus had been on beating dance competition opponents. For young dancers who love the art but will not go on to professional careers on stage, dancing in a temple is perhaps even more validating and of value.

A competition promotion email lists “greater personal confidence, commitment and self-esteem” as byproducts of participating in their commercial event. I think this is quite true, but how much more so performing in any of the venues mentioned above!

A list of such performances, with attached letters of appreciation, should surely carry at least as much weight as a competition certificate on any CV. The validation of one’s art would certainly not be less than dancing in a hall filled with the parents of other competitors.

The drive to dance and share cannot ultimately be motivated on anything as mundane as a prize. One of the greatest dancers of the 20th century, Martha Graham, wrote this to the brilliant stage and film choreographer Agnes DeMille to assuage her doubts on her latest production.

“There is vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. ... It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.”

While competitions say they promote excellence in the classical performing arts, I have always maintained that any performance sponsor that requires artists to pay to perform is undercutting both the art and artists. Of course young artists are not going to command professional fees, but they should not have any out-of-pocket expenses to perform. Ideally they should receive an honorarium along with travel and local expenses even if the costs of the live orchestra cannot be covered. There are festivals and performance venues that give a respectable honorarium to young artists.

Performing locally in festivals that genuinely attract local dance audiences, even without an honorarium, would be far preferable to joining a competition where skill trumps art.

Some students may not ask their dance guru whether it is actually beneficial to join a competition on the path to a professional career in classical dance. Of course some dance teachers are happy to earn 25 per cent of their students’ registration fees and showcase their skills, even winning a reward along with a student winning a prize. Arranging performances for local NGOs or temples is far more effort and less remunerative.

Dancing in a competition can be fun as long as there are zero expectations of it, meaning more than just the enjoyment of showing your current level of skill and maybe meeting some like-minded people backstage. For validation of your art, look to yourself, your guru, and your god, if you believe in one.

Sharon Lowen is a respected exponent of Odissi, Manipuri and Mayurbhanj and Seraikella Chau whose four-decade career in India was preceded by 17 years of modern dance and ballet in the US and an MA in dance from the University of Michigan. She can be contacted at sharonlowen.workshop@gmail.com