India: Into German Modern dance, Link by Linke

By Aditi De

Maybe I like to dance because in the first six years of my life, I could not speak. As a baby, I had meningitis so I used my body to express myself. Then, I went to a special school and in one-and-a-half years I learnt the German language," Susanne Linke, a leading German contemporary dancer, had confessed on her first solo tour of India in 1985.

Since then Linke has returned to India four times, the last time as a part of the recently concluded German Festival in India. On this tour she presented an evening titled 'Uber Kreuz,' (Crosswise) in collaboration with Reinhild Hoffmn, her former choreography course mate from the Folkwang High School at Essen. The tour covered New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Mumbai.

What was the avant-garde, 70-minute programme set to the unusual music of Helmut Lachenmann and Salvatore Sciarrino, about? "The cross stands for crossing ways, energies or an orientation in space," explains Linke, who is in her mid-50s today. "The choreography uses three different symbols - the cross of the axis, the cross of the diagonal and the cross of the body," she adds.

The result is two strong individual dancers, never quite dancing in harmony, crisscrossing onstage in joint and solo pieces that trace transformations in their styles and choreography.

'Uber Kreuz' is part of a three-fold dance project, based on the theme of the cross. Historically, both Linke and Hoffmann are linked to the German modern dance tradition originating from Rudolf von Laban.

What makes German modern dance such a force to contend with? Bremen-based Linke, regarded as one of the most individualistic spirits to shape the current trend, sees it thus: "In Germany, we haven't had major classical ballet choreographers, but we have much modern dance. Mary Wigman was a pioneer. So was Kurt Joss, who was good at group choreography. Wigman was a very strong woman, who broke the old tradition to make something new."

And what of her own generation? "Modern dance is always looking for change. Our contemporary, Pina Bausch's dance, is the best example," explains freckle-faced Linke, her hands shaping forms in the air around her. "Through her, German dance has got worldwide exposure.

With our generation, our dance caught world attention. But it took a long time after World War II to do something new. In Germany, we tend to live in disharmony. Our thinking is negative. Maybe because we're right at the centre of Europe and most wars start in Germany."

As an aside, Linke turns to the colours of India, including the azure and pastel greens she drapes herself in at Bangalore, "You wear these beautiful colours. In Germany, what do women wear? Black and grey. It's horrible. But I don't dare to go out in Germany with these colours."

How does Linke, who has done several workshops with breakaway dancer Chandralekha, view the East-West dance divide? "Indian dancers have fuller bodies. They emphasise the eyes and hands more than we do," she says. "I feel very comfortable with Indian dance. It's easier to get into the movement and mentality of Indian dance than into classical ballet. If I were to live again, perhaps I'd choose Kathakali, which expresses the depths of humanity. Bharatanatyam is more feminine; Odissi looks so erotic."

What's special about dance training in the modern style? "I think it takes 10 years to train a body to be a dance instrument, to feel natural," Linke explains. "After three years, your body will have the discipline, but it wouldn't have reached you inside.

When I do warm-ups, I sometimes do Indian movements, which come naturally. In 1965-66, I even took a class in the Rabindranath Tagore dance style in Berlin."

What defines German dance today? "We try to express through movement and expression what moves us most. It's always related to the human being, not only to form and shape, which relates to inner time," says Linke. "We don't have a narrative form. It does not interest us. As modern dancers, we are not conscious of the muscles of our faces. The emotion within comes through the face, but not consciously. The important thing is to be cool, to be over everything. That is the western way."

Over the years of being one of Germany's most influential choreographers, has Linke's definition of dance changed? "No," she avers. "To me, it remains the spirit that comes into rhythmical movement."

As Susanne Linke springs up, her feet placed at an angle, her arms thrown into the breeze, her body in startling motion, her expressions just seconds in facial transit, she leaves us in no doubt about what makes her tick. The spirit of her dance is the steel of her soul. (WFS)

Kenya: Naked mothers fight for Justice

By Charles Wachira

In the absence of a credible justice system, women in rural Kenya have gone back to a pristine tradition: Undressing in public to symbolise their resistance to what they perceive as unjust. And if a recent incident is anything to go by, this form of protest is bearing positive results.

Three hundred women - all naked - chased away scientists involved in a World Bank primate research project which sought to relocate them from their ancestral land. According to Suleiman Mbaruk, who is heading the project, not less than 2,000 families were targeted for relocation.

The indigenous people in the coastal enclave of the Tana River District are opposed to the project because they believe that there is too much at stake. "We will not allow the project to go ahead. Our forefathers are buried here. This is the only place that we can truly call our home. Our memories are all here. How then do you expect us to just move so as to pave way for a project? That will not happen. If need be, we shall fight to the last person," says Chema Cheko, an elder from the region.

But what does women parading naked have to do with the project? According to Cheko, traditionally the torso of a naked woman was held in fear, particularly if it was of a mother. Explains he, "Imagine looking at your mother's naked body. The effect is stronger if the rite of undressing is done as a statement of protest. Everybody - even the gods - know that emerging naked in public is the most extreme show of pain for a woman. In a sense it's a spiritual sacrifice."

As was to be expected, the government dismissed the suggestion that going ahead with the project was being unfair to the people who are being displaced. Instead, the government has maintained that its critics are hypocrites who are playing to international galleries in the hope that they will be able to organise some funds for themselves.

Joseph Kamotho, the Secretary General of the country's ruling party, KANU, sees a sinister plot in the accusations. "The government is inclined to provide our people with nearly all their requirements. All those people who are making noises about the KANU government are jealous of our achievements," he says.

But the accusations being made against the government are not without foundation. Human rights organisations, both local and international like Amnesty International, Kenya's Federation of Women lawyers (FIDA) and the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) have intermittently pointed out that Kenya is an accident waiting to happen.

For example, a recent FIDA report titled 'The making of a rogue State' indicts the present administration for malfeasance and warns that unless corrective measures are carried through "... the governed will rise up against the governor once the cup of endurance runs over". The report also maintains that the people have been forced to seek ingenious methods to sort out their problems which is a clear indication that very soon the people may revolt against the government as well.

And taking the lead in these protests are women. Some Kenyan communities like Kikuyu - the country's numerically superior ethnic group - compare God with women, particularly mothers - which is a strong indication of the reverence and clout that is associated with the female gender. For instance, a Kikuyu traditional saying states that a mother is considered a second God. At another level, protests by women are seen as God's acceptance that He would intervene and adjudicate in favour of those aggrieved.

In addition, explains Wangare, a member of the Kikuyu community, the nude act ought to be followed simultaneously with action to alert the broader society of the discrimination that has taken place against a particular section.

According to Professor Geoffrey Muruiki of the University of Nairobi's Department of Sociology, this practice has been forgotten due to the twin forces of formal education and western influence.

Says he, "Formal schooling today has very little regard for some cultural ethos of the past.

In essence, the laissez faire spirit inherent in the money economy has subsumed the psyche of the Kenyan people and relegated most traditions to the realm of ambiguity." Women had first lodged the nude protest 10 years ago against the government when 40 of them got together to protest against the government's action of indefinitely detaining their sons in the state penitentiary. When their initial protests fell on deaf ears, the mothers of political detainees along with other sympathisers performed the nude act to register their annoyance.

But President Daniel Arap Moi would have none of it. He ordered a posse of armed policemen to break the vigil. Unmoved by the mere presence of the forces, the women only left after the police used tear gas.

For now, the primate project is in limbo thanks to the impasse resulting from the nude act. If tradition holds, this will see the locals emerge victorious. But in Moi's Kenya, you can't count on it. (WFS)