When Jai Govinda discovered his true calling, it impacted not only the face but the gender of Indian dance.
Born and raised in Montreal, the classically trained ballet dancer studied with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal on full scholarship for four years, but never truly fit in with the corps.
“I became very dissatisfied with the whole climate,” says Govinda, founder of Vancouver’s Gait to the Spirit festival. “A lot of ballet dancers today do 10-day silent retreats, and they are vegetarian, and quite health conscious and holistic. In those days – we’re talking about the mid-’70s – yoga and all those things had not really reached the masses, but it had reached me,” he laughs.
Govinda became interested in Eastern philosophy in his early teens, and, after leaving the ballet company, embarked on a five-year journey, living in ashrams and studying, that culminated with his introduction to the Indian dance form of bharata natyam.
“The first time I saw bharata natyam was in a Hindu temple in Montreal,” he recalls, his words rising and falling with a gentle French Canadian lilt. “There were two young girls dancing, and right away I said, ‘Wow, this is so beautiful.’ Right away I was mesmerized by the style. There are lots of similarities of lines and geometry and space [to ballet], and I fell in love with it. And, of course,” he adds, “there’s a strong spiritual component.”
After completing the rigorous training required, Govinda transitioned immediately to performing in India, where it became conspicuously obvious that he was not like the bharata natyam dancers of yore.
“When I started, I was one of the very few male dancers in the form,” says Govinda. “My first performance in India, the reviewer, to my great surprise, didn’t fuss too much about the fact that I was Caucasian. What was surprising to them was that I was a male dancer!” he chuckles.
Historically, bharata natyam was performed by women in the temple, and the dance form nearly went extinct before being reborn as an art for the stage some 80 years ago. Now it is taught in every major city in the world.
Govinda (dubbed by one Indian newspaper as the Prince Charming of bharata natyam) elevated his passion into a 30-year career and eponymous dance academy, and almost single-handedly brought bharata natyam into the national arts consciousness.
“It was not that well known and popular. Slowly, slowly, we got accepted in some of the major dance festivals,” he says. “[And] the audience over the years has changed. Today, words like karma and yoga are common knowledge.”
Govinda’s dance academy, established in Vancouver in 1995, has the distinction – among a dozen other bharata natyam academies in BC and more than 100 in the country – of being recognized and supported by the Arts Training Funds of Heritage Canada.
His living dance legacy, acknowledged on Oct. 7 by the City with a Mayor’s Arts Award, has since paved the way for the next generation of local dancers – dancers such as Sujit Vaidya, a former student and rising star.
Vaidya, who performs each fall season in India, will be taking the stage for the fifth annual Gait to the Spirit Festival in a double bill with Nivedha Ramalingam for the festival’s popular pay-what-you-can matinee on Nov. 2.
Vaidya is currently the only professional male bharata natyam dancer in Vancouver, and, like Govinda, had his career path irrevocably altered by the discovery of the dance.
Vaidya had no previous dance training, had just completed medical school, and was about to enter his residency when he got hooked.
“I had taken some time off, and during that, one of the things I chose to explore was bharata natyam. I really cannot explain what the connection was that drew me to it. It just felt so correct,” Vaidya says. “Life led me to dance. It centres me. It’s like a life force.”
Since he made the switch to professional dance, Vaidya has become the first South Asian dancer to receive the Mayor’s Arts Award for emerging dance artist, performed during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and danced around the world.
With Gait to the Spirit, Govinda seeks out stars in the hopes of inspiring local dancers with the best classical Indian dance in the world.
“Jai Govinda has changed the face of bharata natyam in the city of Vancouver,” says Vaidya. “He’s had almost 30 students graduate under his organization, which is huge. And, to top it all, the festival that he does every year here is amazing.
“It’s very rare for us to get to see bharata natyam presented by performers of such calibre,” he adds. “It’s so inspiring for any student of dance, to see what the possibilities are and where the dance form can take you.”
This year, headliners include the spellbinding Janaki Rangarajan, and India’s new bharata natyam sensation Meenakshi Srinivasan.
Gait to the Spirit runs Oct. 31-Nov. 2 at the Scotiabank Dance Centre. Tickets are $25; available at Banyen Books & Sound, 3608 West 4th Ave.
