The best advice I ever received
Advice comes in many forms. Some that you immediately respond to and some that impact you throughout your life.
Years ago, during one of the most difficult periods of my life, I felt dance had abandoned me. At that point my maternal grandmother advised me to wear my ghungroos (bells that all Indian classical dancers wear around their ankles) and just ‘be’. Not dance. But go about my daily activities in the house with my ankle bells on.
She said that gradually the resonance of the bells will fill my being… the weight of the bells will ground me… the feet will remember their rhythm… imagination will take flight and dance will re-emerge from within.
How very true she was. I have kept her words close to my heart. Every time dance seems to abandon me, I re-embody my grandmother’s words.
The advice I would pass on
Does the journey itself reward you? Or is it only the goal? For great artistry to blossom it is the process in which we should be completely immersed; with honesty, humility and rigour.
It is only when the journey itself bears fruit, when the journey evokes fragrances, valleys and peaks, that the goal becomes that much more profound and meaningful. Then the dancer in you has actually lived the dance! Don’t wait for the mist to clear, step into the fog – into the forest of dance. If not sight, fragrance will surely guide you.
WATCH
A trailer for Aditi Mangaldas’ Forbidden
