G. Narendra appears to be like again at his creative journey
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
“My life has been like the sikku pulli kolam”, says Gundurao Narendra . I appreciated the imagery he had positioned earlier than me. A sikku kolam is a winding line, seemingly entangled, however not fairly, for it journeys across the numerous dots in a sequence greatest identified to the road, however someway when it’s over, a stunning sample has been created.
The phrase additionally to me was a preamble to the artiste’s journey and the place it led him. Thanks to his father, who was extraordinarily keen on the humanities, Narendra discovered himself studying dance on the younger age of eight. He skilled below a few academics and was 15 years into dance earlier than he reached the portals of Kalakshetra, the place he needed to unlearn to re-learn another time. He says, he was lucky to have been chosen by Yamini Krishnamurthy when he was however a younger man to be her dance accomplice and do the nattuvangam as properly.
Narendra says Kalakshetra was the place the place male dancers had a position to play in a number of of their residence productions. But, as soon as he left the establishment, he out of the blue discovered himself misplaced, if solely briefly, within the huge world of artwork. But as luck would have it, the Dhananjayans had been touring a manufacturing, and Narendra grew to become Rama and right here too, he grabbed consideration. He calls it a “lucky break”. But there was a lull till he was invited by Uma Ganesan, this time to be the director of the Cleveland Cultural Alliance (CCA), which received him the nickname of ‘Cleveland’ Narendra. But after a few profitable productions, he had a fall out out with CCA and as soon as once more was on his personal.
G. Narendra on the problem of discovering one’s house within the artwork world
He remembers the assist of Mrs. YGP and Mr. Subramaniam in offering him alternatives. “ In an artiste’s journey, many people have a role to play — parents, teachers, and even journalists. Journalists I realised can either make or break you. I had performed the role of Duryodhana and the critic had to only write about my skinny built with ribs showing. This is all you saw in the performance, was my angst.”
He says there have been only a few male dancers then. People didn’t look kindly in direction of the occupation and once they discovered he was a dancer, the comment can be: “That would make you appear effeminate. like a female then. Dancing is for girls.” Narendra says he needed to reside with this fixed stereotyping.
While Kalakshetra was the right place which supplied ample scope to the male dancer, he typically discovered himself at wit’s finish searching for solo alternatives. While there was by no means any dearth for group productions, being a soloist was a large problem .
In 2018, Narendra introduced 4 performances however was paid a lot lesser than the quantity he really spent. That is when he started to rethink areas. He sought different venue comparable to temples, the place he felt comfy dancing.
Narendra says like most artistes, he too had many ambitions. He needed to be top-of-the-line dancers however quickly was disillusioned as a result of male dancers don’t get alternatives as they need to. Yet, in that interval , there was by no means a second when he didn’t dance. Whether there was a efficiency within the offing or not, he was in his studio every day practising. Of course group productions and company exhibits got here his means. He additionally skilled a number of younger male dancers, creating alternatives for them too.
Narendra says in all these years by no means did he cease caring for his physique and food plan, as a result of collectively they contributed to his dance. His ardour for cricket stored him going too. He bought into performing in a bid to reinvent himself and maintain the artiste in him alive.
When he was invited by the Music Academy for a night slot in 2023 , he felt he had lastly bought his due. “For me, the icing was when I was voted the Best Dancer of the year.” It is certainly a validation for an artiste who will not be actually in his prime. He feels, there are miles to go…
Narendra had all of it mapped out he thought when he began the journey and the dots represented the efforts he put in at numerous phases. Yet, it was future which drew the ultimate kolam amidst the sikkal.