Chat with Founding Members of MERU Education Foundation for VISTAAR

Transcribed by: Divya Mendiratta

Gauri:  Welcome everyone to the Foundations TV. Our guests tonight are the founding members of the organization MERU Education Foundation. We have Vanita Shastri and Shekhar Shastri. Welcome to the Foundations TV.

Vanita :  Thank you.

Gauri:  And we also have Pallavi Nagesh here with us, who is the artistic director of the same organization. We are very happy to have you here. And we are very interested actually to know about your organization, when it was founded, why it was founded? And also about the name, I’m very intrigued by the name, so elaborate a little on that, please.

Vanita :  Sure. Thank you Gauri. It is wonderful to be here. We started the MERU Education Foundation is 2002. The mission is simply to promote arts, culture and languages of India, for audiences in Northern America. The word MERU, and the name that we choose was short and small for the American audience again. But it is very symbolic of Eastern philosophies. It signifies the Mount MERU, and it goes all the way from Sumeru in Persia, to the Buddhist philosophy, and the Jambu Dweep, which signifies the Indian subcontinent. It is believed that this is really the center of the universe. And in the body, MERU is signified as the spinal cord. So it is the center of your own being. When we started the organization the philosophy was to understand the grammar behind our arts, performing arts and the esthetics. What is the underlying code or analytical basis of this? When we listen to a Raag, why does it connote a sunrise or a sunset? So, that grammar is something that is our mission to explore and explain to our students who are learning about our arts here in North America. That’s how we choose MERU. It is short and it also has a very deep meaning. So if you want to really dwell deeper you can go there as well.

Gauri:  I totally loved the way you explained everything. It’s very nice, very deep, and very interesting. There is a reason behind every single thing that you have chosen to do, from the start to now. And that actually leads us to our next question. What all have you chosen to do since you started? May be Shekhar Ji can elaborate it a little on the events and the programs that you have conducted in the past.

Vanita :  Sure

Shekhar :  MERU conducts educational programs, as Vanita mentioned. For a large range of audiences, we conduct programs in schools. In Massachusetts, in New Hampshire, we have conducted teacher training, on how to teach topics related to India, the arts culture and languages as Vanita mentioned. In addition, we have prepared modules that have been taught and are being taught in universities and colleges as well. And for popular audiences we take the core of Indian culture in a form that is very engaging and entertaining.

Gauri :  Excellent. So there’s two different things I’m hearing: one is the education part through the schools and the teachers and if anybody is interested in knowing more about that, they can get in touch with you or go on your website and find out more about how to reach out to you. And also there’s some entertainment aspect. I believe there has been an event, which I remember attending, Raaga Rang. It was one of the most intellectual event, even though there was music and entertainment associated with it, but the whole theme was very intellectually driven too. There was the Raag, there was a knowledge flowing through the music to the audiences. I think that was a beautiful event.

Shekhar :  Thank you.

Gauri :  Going straight into the next event, that is coming up, which is actually the focus of our discussion today. This is actually a dance event, and may be Vanita ji you can talk about who the dancer going to be, and what is special about this particular dance?

Vanita :  Sure. We have brought artists and scholars in the past. We have done summit MERU, which is one of our programs, along with the theme, the branding of a program. Under the summit MERU we bring a scholar who talks in depth about a particular topic. In the same format, we also bring artists who perform and may be talk about the dance as well. I’m really excited that in about three and a half weeks on Sept 14^th, we will be presenting Vistaar, which is a classical performance of Odissi Dance. Performing this dance will be Madhavi Mudgal and her troupe from India, the Gandharv troupe. They are based in New Delhi. Madhavi also happens to be my dance Teacher. I remember watching Madhavi way back in Delhi, and I just decided that she is going to be my guru. I went up to her and I said, “you have to teach me” , and she was not a teacher at that time but she was just a performing dancer. So, I’m really her first student. She has been my mentor and my friend, and I’m so excited that I have the honor for hosting her and presenting her. To me Madhavi symbolizes really the combination of modern sensibilities with the classical ethos of the Indian performing arts. Often we hear that this is a traditional arts form, as this is a classical dance. And I think Madhavi’s philosophy is that if I’m doing it now and I’m a modern person, this dance is modern or at least I’m able to bring my abilities from the current to decorate this very interesting performing art. And Odissi as some of you may know is a very very graceful, lyrical dance style, from the Eastern part of India of the state of Orissa. And it is very circular the way it was reconstructed. It takes a lot from temple architecture, so as you watch this dance you can see some of the Murtis that you may have in your home come alive.

Gauri :  Very Nice. You have described the dance form so beautifully and also you relationship with your teacher. Now I’m a little curious though. I’m going to ask you a little question here. You said that you saw her performing and you went up to her and reach out and said you wanted to be her student and you were her first student. Was she your first teacher as well? Is that when you started learning?

Vanita :  No, I was learning off and on with other people, but I was mostly doing dances from films. And my one stint with classical dance didn’t go very far because the teacher wasn’t very exciting.

Gauri :  It does depend on the teacher. Totally understand that. Do you still dance? Do you still perform?

Vanita :  I don’t perform as much, but I’m really a scholar of dance. I keep up the practice, but I talk lot about it, and I give lecture demonstrations.

Gauri :  You must be so excited to have her here and come and perform here for your event.

Vanita :  I’m really looking forward to that. She is on a US tour. And it’s really nice that she’ll be able to include Boston in her travels.

Gauri :  Beautiful. I have nothing to do with Odissi dance at all, I have no association with the Odissi dance. But I have friends who have watched her in India, and once they knew that I’m going to be promoting this event, they came back and told me that they are excited to see her here. So that itself speaks volumes about her capabilities. That’s really good. Sept 14^th is Vistaar and this is in Lexington, so I’m really excited to watch the dance with all of you. Do you have anything else to add?

Vanita :  I also wanted to just added quickly that for this particular one we are partnering with the America India Foundation. And we are doing this is as a fund raiser for the flood victims in Northern India, that were affected by the Himalayan Tsunami recently.

Gauri :  There is a Cause as well. It is entertainment plus the genuine cause. That is of course one side of the story. Now I want to hear the other part of the story. As a member of the audiences, if I come in what can I expect, Pallavi, from a show like this?

Pallavi :  Everybody from every walk of life will get something or the other from this show, and I can guarantee that. Today seems to be a day for coining words. I’m going to coin another word, may be it’s already coined, Edutainment. MERU is probably the premier institute that provides true edutainment. It’s entertainment with a nuance of education in it. Like Vanita said, we have summit MERU, which has brought many programs that both entertainment as well as education. And you brought up Raaga Rang. As one of the producer of Raaga Rang, I can say that although a lot goes into producing it, a lot comes out as well. We are so fortunate to have such an educational entertaining dice here in Boston. I think Shekhar touched a little bit upon the education and he glanced over the entertainment, but entertainment is a big part of MERU, and we hope to catch all the audiences out there. Plus, this for a noble cause, people will come because they are going to be supporting these floods that happened in Uttarkhand, which is a very nice cause. And there’s the ideology of Vistaar of the space, as Vanita touched upon it and I hope Shekhar will elaborate it a little more, on how Madhavi uses spaces. And that intellectual aspect will appeal to lot of people. For dancers, whether you are a novice or you are an established dancer, there’s always something to learn from Madhavi’s Choreography, and her expression of a story in her music. Again, I’m sure Shekhar will elaborate a little bit more about that. If you want to learn more you can always go on to our website, which is imeru.net. You can get more information both about MERU and about the event, and you can buy tickets to the event which in on Sept 14^th at the Lexington Heritage Museum. And you can buy the tickets on Sulekha or on Lokvani and you can get more information on our website which is imeru.net.

Gauri :  Thank you so much, that was very useful, I’m sure for everybody who is listening. As she said Shekhar Ji, would you like to elaborate on dance style a bit?

Shekhar :  Certainly. Madhavi is the premier disciple of Guru Kelucharna Mahapatra, who hail from the Eastern state of Orissa. And Guru Kelucharan is considered the architect of the modern form of Odissi dance style. Madhavi is the fore bearer of that tradition. When I say the tradition, as Vanita touched upon briefly also, the challenge for an artist is to take the tradition into the future. And that’s where she has excelled. She comes from a family of classical musician. She is an architect, as well as a premier dancer. So she is able to bring together the physical spaces, and the internal spaces. Also the rhythmic and the melodic structures and create sculptures there, dynamic sculptures. So this particular choreography, Vistaar that she is talking about, starts from a core and then elaborates in many different dimensions. And when it elaborates the task is complex but the result is perceptible. The audiences are touched, and that’s when it becomes beauty in pure form. In fact , Alastair Macaulay the dance critic for the New York Times said that Madhavi Mudgal is legend. And he has stated, ‘today on the planet if there are three dancers that he is absolutely in love with are Mikhail Baryshnikov, Sara Rudner and Madhavi Mudgal.’

Gauri :  Excellent . And to add to that I think there was a list that was shared with me before we started recording, of the awards that she has received. To all the substantial information that we’ve shared today, through this interview, is also a number of the awards she has credited to her name, including the Padma Shree, the Sangeet Natak Academy Award and Chevalier De L'ordre awarded by the Government of France. That’s very commendable. It’s very nice to see that MERU Education Foundation is bringing such an accomplished artist here for the Boston audiences. Did you want to add anything Vanita, before we end?

Vanita :  I just wanted to Thank you, Gauri for hosting us and doing this. I also wanted echo Shekhar’s point that she has now actually trained a whole set of dancers.So really taking the classical form into the future because there are many dancers you’ll see in the troupe. It’s not just a solo performance, it will be actually in a group performance. And when you see classical dance in a group setting that dynamic impact and that esthetic experience, I think, will be something which is breath taking. And I invite you all to come and be part of this event on Sept 14^th at the National Heritage Museum.

Shekhar :  I would like to also add, that I knew Madhavi for some time because her father was my music teacher. I learnt music from him and I use to see these Odissi performances. I must admit I was young at that time, I fell in love with all of Madhavi’s students. And I ended up marrying one of those.

Gauri :  Oh my god!. That is amazing.

Pallavi :  There are many such stories that you can find in the dance. Not just Madhavi’s dance but in any dance. But in particular Madhavi’s dance, and Vanita said, is very rich in storytelling and it’s something that you must all come and experience for yourself. And I’m going to throw in one little challenge, both Vanita and Shekhar touched upon the fact that the choreography emulates temple architecture. So for the people in the audience, I’m going to quiz you after the show of how many pieces of temple architecture you saw or you found during the dance.

Gauri :  Awesome. So not only are we exited to see the beautiful dance performance we also has something really fun to look forward to.Thank you so much all three of you for joining us tonight. I for one, I’m going to be there for the show, and I invite all my friends and all the viewers who will be watching this video. I think this is a lot of good information that we shared tonight. So please do come and watch the show Sept 14^th at the Lexington Heritage Museum. We’ll look forward to seeing all of you. Thanks so much. 

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