Rukmini Chatterjee is an articulator of space and silence with mudras and movements. Trained in Bharatnatyam, she became the latest Indian dancer to receive the prestigious Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France. The 54-year-old recently did a rare, short performance without a stage. The room itself was the stage.
It was impromptu. It was magic. It stopped the tinkling of champagne glasses. The award is bestowed upon individuals who have distinguished themselves by their creativity in the field of art, culture, and literature or for their contribution to the influence of the arts in France and throughout the world. Chatterjee confesses, “I had no clue about the award, it came as a surprise.”
Chatterjee, who was raised in West Bengal’s Santiniketan began to train in Indian classical dance at a very early age. She attributes her success mainly to her mother who was a trained classical singer. The family later moved to Ahmedabad where Chatterjee enrolled in the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, coming under the tutelage of the famous Bharatnatyam dancer and choreographer Mrinalini Sarabhai. “Dance made me see the universality of emotions and Mrinalini’s vision was universal,” says Chatterjee.
At 20, the dancer moved to Paris, where she happened to perform Bharatnatyam at a festival. Even though Chatterjee says her performance was well received and appreciated, she sensed a clear divide between the artistic vision of India and Europe which she thought could be bridged through her art. Chatterjee says, “I studied the Upanishads which profoundly uphold the values of the Universal Man. I tried to understand what connects us all. It is then that I realised that the universality you encounter during the meeting of traditions is magical.” In Paris, Chatterjee started choreographing a new dance form. She refused to give it a name: her new oeuvre celebrates the coming together of Indian classical and contemporary dance forms.
Chatterjee says Paris, the Mecca of Art, enchanted her; with artistic flair, she explains that the universe was conspiring to making her an artist. “In Paris you walk through history. It was the only place for me to be an artiste,” she adds. The Indo-French dancer struggled with the French language initially and admits to talking to a mirror to learn the language. “I picked sounds and tried to learn French that way. Then I understood that tunes and ragas were universal.”
Back in India, Chatterjee also started the international dance festival ‘Connections’ in 2014, hosted by the Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts. The events’ aim is to promote artistic excellence on a global scale by bringing together outstanding performers from across the globe to India. The versatile Chatterjee’s latest creative expedition is directing films. She intends to tell stories about dancers using movement as the medium of conversation. Not giving her dance form a name is intriguing. She admits, “What you create comes and leaves with you. Labels create borders.”
Obviously Chatterjee does not favour borders in art that define or limit her interpretation of dance. “I’ve always pretended to be someone else, and then tried to learn from the experience,” she explains about preparing for a composition. It is a tactic that many artists adopt; slipping into a role and reimagining its authenticity. Rukmini Chatterjee is as authentic as it can get.
