Centre for Movement Attakkalari

'Many young people are learning traditional dances,' Palazhy continues. 'The Bollywood films are also playing their part in this. Furthermore, contemporary dance is also becoming increasingly popular. It is seen as innovative and honest and has an international flavour to it.'

The positive image of contemporary dance can actually for a large part be attributed to Attakkalari itself. For the past sixteen years the organisation has been creating a distinct profile for itself. Jayachandran Palazhy says: 'At the start of the Nineties, when I was studying classical dance myself, Indian literature and films were already expressing themselves in contemporary ways. However, that was not the case in dance. contemporary dance requires a different kind of training from the traditional Indian dances, not just physically. It also appeals to your creativity. You could compare it to someone writing a novel: at the beginning of the 21st century you wouldn t use the same English Shakespeare did. In setting up Attakkalari we were able to design the training and encourage fresh talent.'

By now the training has been developed into a full-time course. 'Young people who have completed our course have absolutely no trouble finding work. They often work as dance teachers in schools or teach evening courses, possibly also performing as dancers themselves. for Attakkalari the traditional Indian dances are often an important source of inspiration. We also have a wide research programme which studies the many hundreds of traditions. It will become a kind of inventory of our cultural heritage. In time everything will be available on the internet, complete with clips. Researchers can use it and choreographers will be able to draw inspiration from them.'

The core of Attakkalari is its own dance company which performs works by national and international choreographers both in India and the rest of the world. 'Through our performances we are showing what is available in the field of contemporary dance. In this way we are hoping to encourage others. In the summer we also teach workshops to thousands of children and throughout the year we teach dancing at fourteen schools in Bangalore. That means only fourteen of the millions of schools in the whole of India but we don’t have the capacity to reach more schools at the moment. This is why we are going to set up a programme to train teachers so that they themselves can teach dancing.'

Besides all this, Attakkalari runs campaigns. 'In these campaigns it is not just about increased attention for cultural education in schools, but about the whole cultural infrastructure. In India there is barely such an infrastructure. The government prefers to focus on matters such as poverty alleviation. That is understandable but there is more to life than that. In Bangalore many of the young people work in call centres and the ICT sector, often for Western companies. That means working at night. In this way they are creating economic freedom for themselves which is great. But as a result they are becoming increasingly detached from their real lives and their own identities.'

'Dance can increase their self-esteem and even prevent psychological problems. Furthermore, it provides ways of having real contact with others and of getting physical exercise which in many cases is much-needed. These things are important as well.'