The
Teacher – The Taught
Pushkala Gopal, Vice Chairman of
the South Asian Faculty, explores the relationship between
teacher and pupil in the study of Bharatanatyam
Sama,
Dana, Bheda, Danda- these are four techniques prescribed in
ancient Indian teachings as the logical and correct approach
to managing situations. The original context would have referred
to the enemy – I would happily paraphrase this to define
the present day student – no subtext, truly, other than
the challenge which teaching poses, demanding strategy. Let
me begin by explaining the terms first:
• Sama – to deal with the the other person with
equanimity and to be conciliatory
• Dana – to offer reward, incentive or remuneration;
in this context, motivation
• Bheda – to use dissent; to read discrimination
• Danda – when all else fails, the punishment
or the corrective action
As a teacher of Bharatanatyam of several years, I have been
in situations teaching individuals or groups, children or
adult learners, those who have been within my style throughout,
those who have accomplished certain levels in other styles
and then come to me, those who train to perform professionally,
those who wish to perform to a high standard and not professionally,
those who are there for fun, those who are there to sample
the style or for reasons of pedagogy, those who are there
for cultural reasons or to acquire heritage or for religious
pursuit, those who are there because their parents brought
them. Every now and then, on the positive side, one is lucky
to get the pupil whose reason for being there is just the
love of dance and a passion to lap up the experience holistically.
On
the flip side one can have the motivated parent who sees their
off-spring as the most exceptional and talented being, or
the passionate would-be professional who believes that the
passion takes care of the development and sustenance of the
artistic skills and attainments involved in the making of
the truly exceptional dancer. From time to time I get the
advanced pupil either to learn works choreographed by my Gurus
or pieces of my own choreography- this is pleasurable when
the dancer is happy to work on the stylistic aspects of the
piece with importance given to the technical adaptation as
much as the learning of the repertoire and embellishing it
for performance.
The present day approach on the part of a lot of the younger
incumbents, be they dancers or gurus, is to acquire repertoire
or ‘buy items’ as is the current practice in the
Bharatnatyam marketplace. There is also the advent of summer
schools or short courses where rep is taught and by which
one can see the phenomenon of the same piece having very inconsistent
dance outputs, based on the individual characteristics, styles,
abilities and inabilities and preferences of those who have
acquired the repertoire.
The responsibility a teacher feels when a young body and an
unknowing mind is put before them for long term training from
first steps is huge: here one takes on roles that diverge
from being a playmate, to a surrogate parent. Every teacher
of a pupil at this stage can remind themselves that they can
be the giver or the nurturer of the love of dance or that
they can do just the opposite; overwhelming isn’t it,
when put like that? In practical terms, what does this responsibility
entail? Using the sama technique of dealing with the pupil
with equanimity, the qualities one would inculcate would include
simple discipline basics, like doing as shown – important
for several Bharatanatyam teachers who teach by instruction
and not by demonstration – listening, striving for accuracy
in aural patterns and safe movement in visual ones, being
made aware of aesthetics in early stages, developing a vocabulary
of movement and content appropriate to one’s physical
and emotional development i.e. being able to sample the nritta
or the pure dance as well as the abhinaya or narrative elemet
element; all these with the underlying element of fun in the
work or the beauty in the form being the Dana or the reward.
At this juncture, no amount of repetitive correction by the
teacher could ever be excessive for the child. I have also
found that teachers who are painstaking and discerning in
their choice of visual imagery to prompt individualistic qualitative
responses to movement are very effective. Using the bheda
technique, a typical sequence of comments might go- “class,
in Aramandi (the knee bent and turned out basic stance of
Bharatanatyam) please…wonderful, some lovely bharatanatyam
mandalas (postures), some baby ducks, and a few baby frogs,
I think. Let’s do it again and see how many of each
there are…”
The
repeated exercise would achieve far more results than the
teacher pointing out to each child that they have a ‘bad’
aramandi – leave alone the negativity generated in the
environment or real bheda where a line is drawn, circumscribing
the competent and blackmarking the ones with difficulties
– at this stage of development the ideal aim would be
for each pupil to feel a love for the experience through the
class, the teacher and the art form. Generally a danda or
punitive approach would not be appropriate at this stage,
especially not individually. In rare circumstances one might
withold the start of a new piece on the basis that class attendance
was low, for example. It is important for the in-between classes
memory of the child to be filled with positive anticipation
and possibly a fervour to do more, learn more.
With relationships that are longer, say, the intermediate
level, a lot of teachers fall short on the sama approach:
this is a stage that seems jaded and very often the one where
in Britain, post the 11 plus break, many pupils drop out of
the class. Synonymous with puberty and overhanging views within
the culture of bodies needing rest pertaining to girl children;
teachers and parents have to work extra hard and together,
I feel. Comments that would have been acceptable within the
same group previously now get to be seen as one being’put
down’, parents have anxieties about achievement as perceived
by them… individual complexities of emotional and physical
development affect performance within the class – to
the benefit of some and the disappointment of many. Where
possible, systematic singling out of each member of the group
with an opportunity to demonstrate the things they do well,
really helps in building a sense of self worth, self confidence
and in reinforcing their potential talent. As bodies have
a growth spurt and hormonal changes, emotional nurturing is
as important a part as physical training. At this stage, opportunities
for contemplation or reflection, for reinforcing material
through aural, visual, mnemonic approaches and responsibility
in taking ownership of material, learning ‘by heart’
(what an old fashioned notion!), through the ultimate horrible
exercise – HOMEWORK – these are so important in
helping pupils find ways of focussing so that the dance development
complements their other life, and is more than the adjunct
of a weekly class.
The individual pupil or the advanced groups are obviously
clearly motivated, which is why they stick it out or put up
with you, or can’t bear to leave your side. From experience
I find all methods- Sama, Dana, Bheda, ,Danda, useful here.
Current ethos, is for progress to be measured by repertoire
learnt rather than skills enhanced. Here the teacher ought
to stimulate the student to be open to as many external dance
experiences as possible whilst making sure that their own
vision for the pupil and their own corrective techniques to
lift the pupil up are delivered unstintingly. As a teacher
of the present times, I find that my best friend is the video
camera. When a class on improving techniques is recorded on
camera, it is visible proof for the pupil of the road that
needs to be travelled, and consequently, of the several journeys
that need to be made, each uncovering and exploring a new
facet. Here, my plea to the teacher is to keep themselves
fresh and open to an interactive journey which then stimulates
so many intuitive moves.
Traditional learning demanded the dancer’s understanding
of their own body, being the clue to their becoming a more
skilled classical dancer – and some axioms like this
hold true for all time. How you reach the same destination,
given other life styles in this age, is the question. A solution
may be to go back to different methods of teaching and learning
over different projects. As a teacher, into whose life the
ISTD exams came just a few years ago, I find solutions to
a lot of the ‘keeping bharatanatyam alive in the course
of one’s life’ techniques quite easily, through
meeting the needs of the syllabus. In fairness to developing
a relationship for the pupil with the Bharatanatyam cosmos
which is larger than just the student and their exams, periodic
excursions into non exam stuff like flirting with bollywood,
fusing with other dance work through the school curriculum
etc are good stimulators. As a teacher, I am particular about
passing on some precepts that are different to the occidental
way of thinking about dance and dance culture. For instance,
the performer ‘in their prime’ here is a lot younger
than the veteran dancer of the Indian tradition where ‘vintage’
is synonymous with greater artistic experience. Keeping oneself
abreast with the knowledge now available to dance teachers
on the safe use of the body, or the dialogues between practioners
of dance related therapy and the body of dance practitioners
and teachers is a must.
Above all, a teacher being alert to dance being here and now,
and keeping themselves constantly ‘updated’ in
their own body, mind and spirit is the best thing a teacher
can do for themselves and their pupils. As a dance teacher,
I have been privileged to have several pupils with whom my
teacher pupil relationship has crossed the decade mark, I
continue to be sustained by the enlightened inputs of my own
teachers with whom I have a cherished, over three decades,
a relationship – while the old Indian Guru-Shishya (preceptor/pupil)
relationship is not prevalent now, an Indian dance teacher
still continues to be a major influence in the learning life
of the pupil and an evolved teacher is one who is well aware
of the virtues (and the obligations!) of this simple fact.
Pushkala Gopal |
