Lessons learned from a summer of conversations
A steady drum beat of hope this summer and early fall was the weekly performance series by ICAPS, which featured both an interview and a performance by various artists, largely from the Indian-American diaspora.
My goal with the interviews was to peel behind the veneer of the final product we see in a performance and get each dancer or musician to share their artistic journey, why they chose to continue their art form beyond their primary education, their advice for students of the arts, and what they are working on during the pandemic, as well as what they planned for their performance as well as why.
I was interviewing these artists and editing those interviews into clips for Facebook, which gave me the opportunity not only to engage in insightful discussions, but also mull over them several times over as I prepared them for publication.
Though the artists had very different journeys and perspectives, several themes emerged from these interviews:
Community
Nearly every artist spoke of the support and inspiration they had, whether it was from their family, the relationships forged during their training, or the community of artists. My favorite anecdote was probably Sri Anirudh Venkatesh speaking about how, as middle schoolers, he and his friends would have Carnatic music jam sessions during sleepovers. Smt. Ramya Kapadia spoke movingly about the inspiration she drew from her community in Wisconsin as well as from the artists that were invited to perform there, and how those interactions planted seeds for choosing the arts instead of the sciences. Kum. Pragnya Jayanti spoke lovingly about the encouragement and inspiration she drew from her mother, as well as from Sri Vempati Ravi Shankar and Mastergaru.
I know this has been true for me, as well - I’ve drawn such inspiration from my mother’s dance family, who have always treated me like their own kids, and it has been such a privilege to have grown up listening to such avid discussions about music and dance, and to now be able to engage with them about music and dance as well. So much of my understanding and perspective on the arts has also been shaped by my family, which I’ve explored in other pieces on this blog.
Drive
Something I have heard from parents and kids nearly universally has been how difficult the final years of high school are, and it breaks my heart that the arts are often the first things they let go of. I have tried (with varying degrees of success) to convince many that the choice doesn’t have to be either/or with the arts and academics, and it is possible to balance the two (hello! I’ve done it too!).
This drive to continue the art came up in every single conversation. For Dr. Yamini Saripalli, her love and passion for dance became the guiding light when she determined the field of medicine to pursue as she balanced the two. Sri Vijay Rachakonda spoke about realizing in college that he really did want to carve out a space for classical music out of his own volition, which led him to begin learning Hindustani music. Smt. Ramya Sundaresan Kapadia and Sri Kasi Aysola both discussed choosing to live as full-time artists.
I think it’s important to call out that drive can take many different forms, and there is no one right path to make space for the arts, whether you choose to make your professional career the arts, maintain a completely different day job, or build a life that integrates the arts and your career.
Integration into daily life
Arts are a discipline, and artistry is a muscle that needs to be exercised. It was no surprise to me that every single person spoke about how embedded their art was in their life. Many spoke about how, if they went a few days without practicing, they felt uneasy. I really don’t have much more to say here. If you want to be a dancer, just dance. If you want to be a singer, then sing. If you want to be a writer, then write.
I know this can feel daunting, especially when there are so many priorities. I fall into this trap myself some times. but I know I spend at least some time for dance daily, in some capacity. For this very column, I’ve been contemplating and forming it for a couple of weeks, so when I finally got a chance tonight to be in front of my computer while everyone else in the house, including my newborn, slept, it’s just flowing. And while I’m following doctor’s orders to take things slow physically, I’m constantly running through items I’ve been recently working on, so when I get back into my studio, there are things that I already know I want to try and see. This has been a source of sanity, honestly, between the caustic politics that dominate headlines, and the sleep-deprived tedium of early parenthood.
If you haven’t been actively following the ICAPS series, you can still catch some of it. While not all performances are still available, you can see the ones we have permission to keep online here:
The interviews are all still up, and you can watch them here (both playlists have the same starting video):
