INTERMISSION
Welcome to “Intermission”, a blog by Ishami Dance Company. Through “Intermission”, we hope to use the medium of writing to engage critically and thoughtfully with our art, histories, and unique perspectives. We aim to spark conversations, question, and encourage dialogue surrounding our diverse relationships with our artistry and culture, and we hope you will pause and ponder our words — and enter into these conversations yourself.
Margazhi and Melancholy: Reflections from a winter spent in Chennai
It’s hard to go half a mile in Chennai without seeing the decorated archways of a music festival venue in December. Filled parking lots and hordes of patrons follow, crowding around venue entrances and theater canteens. The smells of fresh sambar and coffee waft through the air as distant violin melodies sneak their way out of the cracks in theater doors. Drive a kilometer down the street and the same scene repeats itself, equally lively and once again crowded with eager patrons.
This transformed Chennai of the winter months is a place incredibly close to my heart. Not only is it my family’s homeland, but the abundance of artistic excellence — and collective support of such artistic excellence from the entire city — is unique and incredible. Rarely anywhere else can you find even a single 15-day festival dedicated to local art forms, let alone 20-some festivals operating simultaneously, some for over a month continuously. There are just not the financial resources, performance venues or the audiences anywhere else in the world. And yet every year, Chennai seems to make it happen. Though plenty of programs don’t sell out, there are always eager faces in every audience, as early as 9 a.m. and as late as 10 p.m.
Transcending tradition, beckoning backlash: How and why did “fusion” become so politically charged?
It was only a few years ago when a teacher of mine told me that bringing together my training in classical and contemporary dance forms would taint my reputation and ruin any prospects of a career in dance. It was not long after that when one of my peers took five minutes out of a rehearsal to berate me for utilizing mudra-inspired hand movements in a piece that I was wearing shoes while dancing. It was only days later that it seemed my TikTok feed was filled with angry internet users berating dancers for pursuing untraditional hybrid forms of movement.