That soft glow on her face and lilting tunes of the spotlight following her rapturous movement on stage is surely an image that would stay with you after her performance. The ‘’her’’ could refer to any dancer and the lights could be technical aspects of any stage. So essentially, the beautiful imageries on stage and the presentation of a performance is something you take back home as a memento. The basic motive of dance is to express and emote. And that is not merely achieved by dance alone.
Stage aesthetics, in other words, acts as a catalyst to the performer enhancing the space around the dancer and thus making it a visual treat. Every image, every idea and every flitting movement across the stage adds to the building blocks of stage aesthetics. The composition, choreography, spatial intent, techniques, light angles, consistency, audio and camera angles are the tip of the iceberg of stage aesthetics. Given that not all dancers are aesthetically conscious in our country, it’s rare to find the balance between various layers of symbols, dance, stage and the space.
Madhavi Mudgal, eminent Odissi dancer, who is known for sense of costumes and effective use of lights, says every detail on stage enhances on stage. She says that these basic building blocks go into making an outstanding performance. “From lights to cables, everything on stage has an impact on the audience. Stage aesthetics create a visual imprint on the audiences’ minds and that’s what stays with them. They associate you to the imagery that you create you on stage and associate your sense of beauty through that,” says Mudgal. She says that it’s not something that can be taught for such aspects are ingrained in a person. However, it does make a difference by observing someone who is simply aesthetically sound. “I guess it’s ingrained and depends on your basic inclination towards aesthetics,” says Mudgal, who was almost on her way to become an architect till she realised her passion for dance and became a full-time dancer. “It comes spontaneously to me, so it’s not a conscious effort. For me the stage aesthetics depend on the music and its mood and character. For example the sense of lighting depends on the kind of music being used. Of late, I’m glad to find dancers doing away with bright lights and bringing in some maturity on that aspect,” says Mudgal.
So does dance then go beyond your choreography and music? “Absolutely, dance is something that holds these elements together, but one has to look at it in totality. When you dance, you merely don’t move your body, you actually sculpt the space around,” says Mudgal. Well-known and noted Kathak and choreography dancer Astad Deboo draws an analogy with a painter’s canvas. “The stage is like a canvas and as a dancer you decide how you want to paint your canvas. For me, aesthetics would be a signature of my work. It is an individual calling and it’s very subjective,” says Deboo.
Considering Indian dance doesn’t have a formal section dealing with aesthetics per se, most pick it up from their gurus and influences around. Also the art of having aesthetics, as an important aspect of your dance, is not taken seriously but most cultural institutions. Deboo rues about the fact that most of our theatres and cultural spaces aren’t well equipped to have the kind of maturity in aesthetics that the West does. “Even in Asia, Hongkong and Singapore have such excellent facilities in their theatre. Here I am appalled to see the best of the theatres like NCPA or Nehru Centre not being equipped with good lighting arrangement. We need new technology to develop our aesthetics and bring about that change of mindset,” says Deboo.