Young talent wows

ON STAGE

Nehru's birth date was marked by colourful activity in the city centred around children.

There were some new and meaningful initiatives like the Kitabi Magic, organised by the Department Of Education, Delhi Government, and usual ones like the Nehru Bal Mela, focused on environment, organised by the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library at the Teen Murti Lawns, which was designed to be participatory.

But what was truly engaging and moving was the Bal Sangam organised by the Theatre In Education Company of the National School of Drama, something it has been doing for a few years now.

This theatre festival is special because here, children from families of traditional performers are identified and invited from different parts of the country to show their traditional performing arts.

This time, there were more than 200 children from rural and tribal areas who congregated to showcase traditions that they had imbibed from their elders "" sometimes just by being with them and watching them perform. Children came from Jharkhand, Assam, Manipur, Jammu & Kashmir, Chhatisgarh, Karnataka, Malwa, West Bengal and Rajasthan.

The energy and confidence with which these child artistes performed would have put even the best of urban actors to shame. Rhythm and music were in their body in a way only someone who'd imbibed these from birth have.

And the improvisational skills of some of the youngest surprised many in the audience. Their enthusiasm was infectious and took the entire audience in its sway. I do not mean to go on in praise of these young artistes, but something was very moving about the whole experience.

I have watched several traditional performances in villages and am witness to the degeneration of these forms, and to the demoralisation and bitterness of the artistes at being marginalised.

They have all articulated, quite clearly, that they would never teach their art to their children because they do not want them to live such humiliating existences.

One very senior artist once said, quite directly, "your effort to save the form has come too late. Now it is on oxygen and will die any moment. Forget about it and go home." I have never forgotten that remark. But when I saw these young ones perform with so much enthusiasm I wondered if that artiste was wrong and if these forms have got a new lease of life.

One of the objectives of this festival organised by the NSD was to encourage gurus to teach younger generations and preserve their rich legacy. Going by the response to this festival, it seems, this has been a step in the right direction.

Just the fact that their art was recognised in the capital energised some of the gurus into making an effort to teach their young ones. If more such efforts are taken up by other organisations, I feel, very confident that our rich traditions will find ways to reinvent themselves through the younger generation and keep afloat.

The other very positive aspect of this festival was the opportunity it afforded young artistes to interact with other performers and their urban counterparts. It translated into tremendous exposure for them, a rare learning experience and, of course, boosted their confidence.

In this globalised world where space for those on the margins is shrinking at a fast pace in the name of development, it would also help city kids to know that they are not the only ones with merit "" that there are other less fortunate who have tremendous talent that is difficult to match.

(kirtinsd@gmail.com)