A National Seminar on the Macro and Micro of Dance Criticism held in September 2014 @ Lalit Kala Kendra , SPPU , Pune.
Speakers
Dr. Sunil Kothari
Dr. Rekha Sane
Dance Criticism — The Macro and Micro perspectives.
( A two day seminar on Dance Criticism )
Criticism and the Critique play an important role in communicating the art and its layers to the readers. They play the important role of upholding the levels of art and putting a benchmark as to what an ideal artiste could be. The critic uses the fourfold function of Description , Evaluation , Interpretation and Contextualization to judge any work of art and therefore the artiste too. Art is subjectivite and its expression thru an artiste is equally subjective . The critic arrives at a certain level of objectivity trying to give the reader the perception of the performance as well as the artiste.
In an era where readers , artistes and critics themselves are witnessing the change in the attitude of criticism , it is important to revisit this area and look at the smaller and the larger picture of why criticism exists in the manner it exists today.
Criticism in the context of Indian Classical Dance
When we enter an arena of criticism related to Indian classical dance , there are several questions which need to be dealt with. Does the critic need to be well versed in the practice of dance before he actually ventures into the arena of dance criticism. What is ethical responsibility of a critic in terms of language and etiquette. What problems do the critics face when they realize that the words have been edited to fit in the space of a newspaper , journal , magazine or a blog. How do the editors look at dance criticism and what is their approach when they edit it or proof read it. What is the approach of the dancer who reads a review of his performance . How does a dancer approach criticism and what happens when there are differences of opinion between two critics perceiving one single performance. How do we take into consideration the subjectivity in such a case , when a critic is trying to arrive at some level of objectivity thru his words which observe the subjectivity of art and the artiste. Several such interesting areas were dealt with a two day seminar.
Work Plan
The one day seminar was divided into 4 sessions each –
We looked at thie area of dance criticism through four angles
1) Critic
2) Dancer
3) Editor/Publisher
4) Reader
Centrefor Performingarts
Source
