US Vs India - Dance awareness..

Last month, after a grilling day, my advisor tried to be friendly to me and said "Rupa, I have something which might be of interest to you."I thought it might be another couple of books on Electromagnetic modeling.Surprisingly he handed me a Bharatanatyam arangetram invitation and said that his wife's student was performing it.It as an elaborate 8 page booklet with wonderful graphics. Every page had the dancer posing in an entirely different costume in keeping with the description of the item being performed. Overall, very nicely done.I quickly went through the dance guru's profile and learnt that she was trained under the great Dhananjayans. The dancer (performer)was also trained in jazz, hip-hop, modern dance and also worked as an anchor for a local television channel..Wow! that was impressive.
My mind then drifted to the days in India in May 1999 when I had performed my arangetram.I had a simple 4 page invitation card with 2 costumes. I had learnt a little bit of Kathak at middle school and also knew folk dances, but never studied anything seriously other than bharatanatyam. One thing which was clearly lacking then was the exposure which one has through the internet today.The next most important factor is the Indian mindset where highest importance is given to academic performance rendering very little time to pursue anything which is of true artistic value.Well, I wouldn't blame them because there are a lot of socio-economic reasons behind this mindset. Practically, its important to be able to procure a job where you are making some money first and then think about the rest.
For the desi junta which has been minting money for the past 20-30 years,the kids need not bother about getting 'some' job just for the heck of it. Also the US is a huge cultural melting pot where one interacts with people coming from various cultures on a daily basis.Naturally it broadens your knowledge and also makes you attempt things which one caould only dream of in the 1990's India.
Overall, its a positive sign to see bright kids being keenly interested in pursuing their passion. American Indian performers are now fusing elements of ballet, flamenco and jazz with bharatnatyam,giving it a universal appeal. Some of these Indian american performers have also started touring India giving tough competition to local performers, thus pushing the envelope.