HONING THE CREATIVE PROCESS

DR. ROHINI DANDAVATE

Dance postures drawn by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra

He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist. St. Francis of Assisi (Italian religious leader). Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra (Guruji) was a choreographer par excellence. He had the skillfulness of a laborer, the mastery of a craftsman and the passion of an artist. A creative genius, he choreographed approximately two hundred solo dance numbers and fifty dance dramas in his lifetime and Odissi dancers all over the world continue to present his works to this day. Honing the creative process was his way of life. Born in a family of palm leaf painters and percussionists he had wide exposure to the world of colors, textures and sound. His home in Raghurajpur (Odisha) was located near the Hindu temple and the ongoing singing of kirtans (spiritual songs) and verses from Hindu scriptures in the temple triggered unconscious learning. Amidst the milieu of these art forms it was natural that he was attracted to the dance of the Gotipuas, the boy dancers of Raghurajpur. The immersion and practical experience in dance, music, theatre and painting from a very early age was the foundation of his power of imagination, reflection and expressiveness. His artistic quality was noticeable in the most mundane activities of life. Describing his paan making, Ranjana Gauhar, a leading Odissi dancer writes, The way he opened his paan box, the selection and trimming of the betel leaf, the choice of ingredients and their application- it was as though his fingers were performing some pure dance item during each

meticulous stage of preparation. The finale was when he would wrap up the betel leaf in the most delicate manner

Photo 1. Guruji making paan. Creativity encompassed his every action. Besides choreographing brilliant dance numbers, he spent every moment of his life in lending beauty to anything he touched. During dance tours, he was often seen organizing our bags according to size, shape and color. Though his primary motive was to secure the luggage, in the process of stacking he was exploring shapes, forms and levels, which he would later translate in the dances he created. His observant eye was constantly searching and absorbing ideas.

Photo 2. Playful moments with Guruji on Marina beach, Chennai. For years, during our performances Guruji spent hours applying face make up for all the dancers. He made us all look like Apsaras (celestial maidens). Immaculate designs on our forehead and precisely lined eyes and eyebrows brought out the natural beauty of each dancer. In times when tailored and easy to wear costumes were not available, he would drape the sari for each performer. Every fold and pleat was uniform in size, length and well pinned, ensuring that it would not open while dancing. He even tied the ghungroos (bells) on the anklets, each bind perfectly aligned, knotted and secured.

Particular about every detail in the overall costume he would inspect each one of us before we entered the stage.

Photo 3. Guruji tendering the tulsi plant in the porch of his home in Cuttack. At home he was often seen tendering the plants in the front porch or sweeping the pathway during leisure. These activities were not chores for him, it was his quiet time to contemplate and observe the environment, understand the flow in the swaying of the leaves and branches of the plants and notice the movements of the small creatures. Often we had to stand and watch and then replicate the same movements. His open mind was always engaged in idea generation.

Photo 4. Guruji etching patterns on his dance floor, in Cuttack He created the beautiful bamboo ceiling of his dance studio and etched meticulous designs on the floor in the dance room in his Cuttack house with the same passion and precision as he did in his dance choreography. The engineer in him craved to explore new technologies. Cameras, tape recorders, video players, spools, audiotapes were his toys. Every time there was an addition in his collection of gadgets, he spent days learning to operate it. When recording studios with sophisticated editing machines were not accessible, he edited music at home accurately. Exploring video cameras and its functions was his favorite leisure time activity. Though not formally trained in an

educational institution, his curiosity and quest to know more led him to using different ways of learning. My objective in sharing these moments of Gurujis life was to highlight the ways of his incessant exploration, discovery, learning and adapting. Developing creative capacity in individuals is about finding fresh and innovative solutions to problems, and identifying opportunities to improve the way in which we do things. Constant engagement and the urge to learn more were the hallmark characteristics that nurtured his creativity and creative thinking. Elizabeth Sanders and Pieter Jan Stappers in their book Convivial Toolbox (2012) have defined creativity as the ability to produce novel and appropriate works. They developed a framework for everyday creativity in which four levels have been identified: doing, adapting, making and creating. According to Sanders and Stappers, the basic level in human creative activities is doing, the next level being adapting, which is explained as to make something ones own by changing it in some way. The third level of creativity is making, which is the motivation to use ones hands and mind to make or build something that did not exist before. The forth and the most advanced level according to them is creating, in which the creative efforts are fueled by passion and guided by a high level of experience. Creating involves innovation. Sanders and Stappers have developed the following diagram to illustrate that individual creativity is not only in the head but in the heart as well: it involves emotion. And creativity takes place in the body. It is evoked through activity and motion.

Source: Convivial Toolbox, Pg 41 Applying this framework helps in understanding Gurujis process of thinking. He was constantly looking for opportunities to submerge in, allowing new ideas to come his way. The experience he gained through participation facilitated his meaning making process. The insights he gained from the different experiences were applied in the dances he choreographed. He observed shapes, sizes, colors, and textures, flow of things in nature and the ways in which people conducted their selves. His

curious and attentive nature was constantly searching for models that could be transformed into stylized dance movements. His ability to recognize and note details helped him translate human moods, movements, and feelings in his dance making. The visuals he created in his mind reflected clearly in his dance choreography, both in his expressive numbers, while emoting a story or enacting characters and in the pure dance numbers. The songs he based his dances on were stylized acts from the everyday life of commoners. In his pure dance numbers, the geometrical patterns, shapes and forms were drawn using the traditional dance steps, gaits, twirls and jumps. Without deviating from the traditional form, he continuously experimented the form, use of time, balance, space, and levels. Graham McFee, in his book Understanding Dance writes: Dance is aestheticized movement, but aestheticization involves a transformation(pg 51, Understanding Dance by Graham McFee) Mcfee explains this point by giving an example of the everyday act of sweeping. According to McFee first I see a person, broom in hand, sweeping the floor in a graceful, elegant fluid way and so I concentrate on the grace, line and so on of the sweeping movement. When this same action is used as a motif in dance, it becomes aestheticized movement. This kind of transformation in movement is used in making dance. This transformation or aestheticization which Mcfee discusses in his book is visible in the dances and dance dramas Guruji choreographed. For example, in the dance drama based on the story of the Konark temple, he strung together postures, steps and movements in a manner which brought to life the architecture of the Konark temple. He used platforms on the stage to create different levels and placed tableaux of dancers on each, similar to the stone

statues carved on various levels in the temple. In dance dramas on episodes from Ramayana, Bhagvad Geeta and other Hindu scriptures the complex human emotions and moods of the characters were evoked through apt movements. As young students in his Gurukul often we had to assist him in the various tasks that he was involved in. It was cumbersome and felt meaningless. Little did we understand then that allowing oneself to engage in different activities with an open mind was as essential as lessons in dance. Living in his Gurukul (Gurus home) and learning dance from Guruji initiated the process of fostering creative thinking.

References Pradakshina (2001): Tribute to Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra on the 75th Birthday Celebrations, New Delhi Sanders, Elizabeth. & Stappers, Pieter Jan. (2012) Convivial Toolbox: Generative Research For the Front End of Design, BIS Publisher, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Mcfee, Graham. (1992) Understanding Dance, Routledge, London and New York. About the Author Rohini Doshi Dandavate holds a doctoral degree in Cultural Policy and Arts Administration from the Ohio State University. As an artist in the Arts in Education Program of the Ohio Arts Council, she has conducted workshops and lecture demonstrations in schools and colleges in Ohio on Odissi dance since 1994. She has offered courses in Odissi dance as a Visiting Faculty. She received her graduate degree in Odissi dance from Kala Vikas Kendra, College of Indian Dance and Music, Cuttack, India. Her gurus are Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, Guru Raghunath Dutta, Guru Ramani Ranjan Jena, and Dr. Menaka Thakkar