Questions from within

Debashree Bhattacharya 

I attended four sessions of the workshop with the intention to observe and learn, and use my experience in my career as a dancer, teacher and choreographer. Little did I realise that it would go much deeper and shake me from the roots of my being.

I learnt quite a few things after observing and performing the ‘Bamboo exercise’, ‘the Chorus’ and ‘Drowning piece’, that Douglas had made us do during the workshop. All these exercises provided me with reference points for the future.

Pic: Emma Cameron

Bamboo Exercise

energy flow, energy transformation, patterns, designs, exploring levels, awareness, connection, concentration

Chorus

togetherness, connection, alertness, presence of mind, focus, awareness

Drowning Piece

stillness, surrender, peaceful, flow, balance

The above exercises were really a learning experience for me.

Kaikhali – on the banks of the river Matla, 21 December, 9.30pm

the Matla river at Kaikhali (Pic: Shataf Figar)

A star-studded sky. Pitch Dark. Sounds of lapping water. SILENCE. It was an eerie, uncanny silence. Felt both peaceful and uneasy at the same time. Can’t explain why. In this context, I would like to mention about the Chorus piece that was created on 29 December. I was unable to hold back my tears that day. Moments from the lives of the people of Sundarbans, each wrapped up in a situation – their sorrows, their joys, their SIMPLICITY, their immense wealth and dire poverty, their innocence and experiences, their regrets and their celebration – all found expression through chorus. And never in my life have I ever thought that ’12 beats’ could become so monotonous as well as eerie and uneasy. Suddenly I was hit by many questions from within.

What’s my role as an artist? My responsibility? Am I committed only to my dance form, a tradition hundreds of years old? What’s the larger picture of which my dance is only a small part?

What’s the truth? About my art? About myself? Where do I search to find myself?

(If I am sounding like a philosopher, I am sorry, but it came straight from my heart.)

Pic: Shataf Figar

In the monotony of 12 beats, Anubha had screamed ‘Bachao’. Save me. Us? From whom? From myself?  Who is the protector and who the survivor? Where do I place myself?

HOW SHOULD I SAVE MYSELF FROM WHAT I HAVE BECOME?

‘Bachao’ still echoes in my ears and my heart.

[Read more about the India phase of The Edge project]