Surjit Nongmeikapam in ‘All in 1’
There is a stillness in his dance. Even as he’s transferring he looks as if he’s not. Between these fleeting pauses and refined actions, you grow to be intensely conscious of your personal physique, for this dance calls for that you just watch it from deep inside. You could not make sense of it however can sense it. This is a dance, not boxed in by definitions. It is uncooked, typically damaged and tells a narrative by itself phrases.
Surjit Nongmeikapam needed to be a stuntman in movies however went from Manipur to Dehradun to review Hotel Management. He quickly realised it was not fairly for him. Having been an athlete and badminton participant, he questioned what he would grow to be. He beloved to maneuver and usually might be discovered dancing to Bollywood numbers in his hometown, Imphal. Seeing his proclivity for dance, his dad and mom determined to enrol him in a BA Choreography course all the way in which down south, in Bengaluru.
“They thought the course would help me earn a livelihood. I hated it initially and wanted to run away,” says Surjit, who was a mentor and a part of a panel dialogue on the annual Prakriti Excellence in ContemporaryDance Awards (PECDA) held not too long ago in Bengaluru.
From Surjit’’s choreographic work ‘Nerves’
“It was frustrating. I had thought I would learn to dance. I did not want to learn theory or Kathak.” The incontrovertible fact that he didn’t have any coaching in a dance kind made it worse. “I came from nothing. I knew nothing about what is dance or what is theatre,” he remembers. It was the “trust and patience” of guru Maya Rao, alongside help from a few of his co-learners that stored him going. In the 2 years that adopted, Surjit went again to Imphal to coach in Manipuri dance and martial arts. Before lengthy, he was again in Bengaluru as a dancer within the Natya STEM Dance Kampni. The restriction he felt with kind grew stronger. “I wanted to experiment. I wanted to know myself through dance. I did not want to dance fixed items,” says Surjit, recalling that whilst a baby he would make up his personal tales at play.
“I am still a dreamer,” says Surjit, including that although he understood the worth of the coaching he had obtained, he was keen to seek out his “own movement vocabulary.” Attending the Gati Dance Residency in 2011 opened up potentialities in that course. “I interacted with several contemporary dancers. I could finally experiment. Contemporary dance gave me space.” Surjit might uncover and specific actions rooted in him. Interacting with dancers from diverse backgrounds impressed him to consider in his personal rising language as a dancer.
From Surjit’’s choreographic work ‘Folktale’
Surjit was 24 when dance turned a lifestyle for him. From there, his journey was about unravelling strictures and buildings. His collaborations with worldwide dancers helped him be taught and unlearn. He travelled to Kolkata and accomplished a course in dance and motion remedy. He labored with individuals with psychological disabilities, individuals with HIV, sex-workers, kids orphaned by battle and HIV/AIDS, displaced individuals and extra. “They knew only Bengali and I knew only Hindi and Manipuri. So we had to resort to movement and expression to communicate,” says Surjit. This expertise would later assist him work in his house state with kids and adults from reduction camps. It additionally enabled him to recognise that his position would at all times be that of an artiste, not an activist. “There were activists doing their job. I had to do mine and that was creating art, sometimes with people going through a lot of pain but can still feel the joy,” says Surjit.
While pursuing his course in Kolkata, he additionally learnt “the power of being weak”. “ Surjit believes that you do not have to be a good dancer to dance. “You do not have to show that you are strong. You keep doing what you do and one day you will be strong, so there is no need to force it. You simply have to be fully present and offer that presence.” He thinks that this can make individuals join extra with the dancer and the dance. Though Surjit had strongly felt the necessity to shake off kind, the extra he travelled and received recognition for his work, the extra he turned rooted with his Manipuri id.
“Wherever in the world you put me, everything about me will be Manipuri. So I chose to work from Manipur and also created the Nachom Arts Foundation as a common platform for local artistes. I wanted youngsters to have a space to find their footing in the arts,” says Surjit. “I never wanted to go to Europe and work there or even live in any other Indian city.”
Speaking concerning the significance of constructing artwork in battle zones, Surjit says, “There is art that comes from a peaceful mind but also art that comes from darkness — and this does not mean it will be more negative. As an artiste, you have to receive the darkness and accept it. New perspectives will emerge.” Surjit provides that working collectively in troublesome instances is what can carry emotional sustenance and, probably, change.