The dance of Iswarya
By Richard Seah
3 Jun 2009
Iswarya Jayakumar has been described as "one of Singapore's most promising classical Indian dancers".
That is an understatement. She is one of the world's best. I am no judge of classical Indian dance, but after having watched and photographed her dance, I thought she could well be.
"Is she world class?" I asked the Indian man seated next to me.
"She is a world champion!" he declared. "We had an international competition recently, with dancers from India and other countries coming to take part. And she was the winner."
The man is Mr Jayakumar. When he first sat next to me, I had asked him, "Are you related (to the dancer)?"
"I am her father," he replied. The pride in his voice was clear.
Mr Jayakumar had started his daughter dancing since she was three years old. A year later, when Iswarya was just four years old, she had already started performing.
Today, she is 15 and has over 200 performances under her belt. She is also a pioneer student in the newly-opened School of the Arts (SOTA), Singapore's first secondary school for students with artistic talents.
Unlike art colleges that such students might attend after they complete their academic studies, SOTA gives students the opportunity to develop their artistic talents even while they pursue 'regular' subjects like English, science and mathematics.
According to the compere for the show, whom I believe is her dance teacher, classical Indian dancers are required to dance for up to two and a half hours non-stop. Iswarya's 40-minute performance that evening, comprising four dances, was therefore considered "nothing".
Still, I could see her catching her breath. Classical Indian dance is not only physically demanding, but mentally as well. Tremendous concentration is needed as the dancer moves not just the body, but also the eyes, the fingers, the neck, shoulders... every minute part of it.
It was a privilege not only to watch and photograph Iswarya's performance, but to do so from up close - and with my 75-300 mm zoom lens taking the view even closer, to observe every detail.
I feel blessed to have had this opportunity. Iswarya gave only one performance as part of the fringe (and free) activities in this year's Singapore's Festival of the Arts. I had gotten hold of a copy of the Festival programme only the night before and, as I browsed through it, I thought Iswarya's performance seemed interesting. I made sure I was there early.
Gender roles
This was not originally intended but after I posted this image, I see a new challenge theme called Gender Roles and I feel it fits well here - because classical Indian dance is almost always performed by females. There are some male dancers, but very few.
In Hindu culture, the dance is an offering to the Gods. It is not just for entertainment and, given its physical and mental demands, certainly not for relaxation!
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I should mention a few things that I did to secure these images.
1. I noticed when I first arrived that the backdrop was a huge montage of all the various performers for the event, including some vocal groups, a gamelan ensemble and even a monkey (which is partly visible in the image, Iswarya Eye-to-eye!) Iswarya's face was a prominent feature of this backdrop and I changed my position to make sure that I could include that image in my photos.
2. Most of the photographs were taken with me seated on the floor in front of the stage. This was not just to make myself comfortable. When I stood up, thinking it might be better to photograph her at eye level, the lighting conditions worsened considerably, as the main lighting came from two strong spotlights shining upwards from the floor. I quickly sat down again.
3. Even though I was very close to the performer, at times no more than five feet away, I used mainly my 75-300 mm zoom lens. This allowed me to capture details of her facial expressions and, especially, her hands (which is my favourite photography subject).
I did switch to a wide angled view towards the end of the performance. But that montage as backdrop really made the images look messy and awful.
4. To capture her feet movements, I used a relatively slow shutter speed of 1/30 second and had some good results. This did not work with other images, however. They simply look like mistakes.
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As always, it is my pleasure to share these images. I hope you enjoy them. Your comments are most welcomed and appreciated. And if you think this essay is worthy of publication, a "Yeah" vote would be nice :-)
1 response
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Jim Pope said (5 Jun 2009):
Nice, really interesting story with some beautiful images. Shooting live performances can be really challenging & you executed it well. I like my 80-200 for these kinds of shoots, I agree with you about the importance of the details. That;'s probably why I like this essay, the attention to detail.
