Mediocrity never wins
Have we ever wondered about the economics of the December season?.
By : s subhakeerthana
Update: 2016-01-08 18:35 GMT
Renowned artistes feel angst over fledgling performers paying money to the organisers for getting a platform. “It’s a bitter truth that money plays a huge role in everything. It starts from your school admissions. It is just that we artistes don’t accept things easily,” says renowned Bharatanatyam exponent-choreographer Radhika Shurajit, adding that mediocre talent is often being promoted.
“The result: merit tends to take a back seat. The guru also plays an important factor in ensuring the standard of the candidates. That’s why I entertain group dance presentations, which give more opportunities to many artistes simultaneously without shelling out money,” she tells us.
Radhika adds, “When local artistes find it extremely difficult to obtain performance opportunities, how about the NRIs? The whole process is difficult and complicated because merit alone does not seem to translate into concert opportunities. A new dance troupe presenting innovative and novel ideas may not get satisfactory performing slots because nobody knows them. Why not have a different season only focusing on promoting deserving new talent? Art should reach the common man.”
Paid performances have become a genre unto themselves, points out the prominent Bharatanatyam artiste-acharya VP Dhananjayan. “It is as much the fault of the receivers as the payers. Irrespective of whether there are audiences or not, sabhas let the artistes perform. Every festival is projected as a ‘youth talent promotion’, and marketing techniques go overboard to promote mediocre artistes. But money alone can’t help the performers grow into successful artistes. Artistes should choose weddings or other corporate-sponsored events instead of approaching sabhas,” he reasons.
Dhananjayan goes on to say, “What can the sabha people do if people aren’t coming forward to attend kutcheris?” “Everybody wants free admission passes. The public, for its part, should cultivate the habit of buying tickets for cultural shows. Supply is more than demand. There are more sabhas and aspiring performers are increasing day by day. Everybody who performs wants to have positive coverage, which will really not help the artistes in the long run,” he adds.
Mudhra Bhaskar, the driving force behind Mudhra Fine Arts, which has been encouraging growing artistes as well as veterans under the patronage of industrialist Nalli Kuppuswami Chetty, feels that the opportunities should go to the most deserving. Says Bhaskar, “We don’t believe in artistes who pay and perform. There is a huge effort that goes into organising concerts. The artistes invest plenty of energy to perform well and keep up, or improve, their performances.
We know that most of the sabhas or organisations that host performances in the season rely heavily on sponsorship. But transparency is important to ensure that Margazhi kutcheris doesn’t lose their purpose. Many people have approached us with money, trying to buy a chance to perform. But we have firmly said ‘no’.”