Having waded through seven years of controversy and unfulfilled projects, Nrityagram came of age with success of its ensemble and star performer Surupa Sen. The dance village has undergone yet another dramatic change with the retirement of its founder Protima Gauri Bedi. Though Protima's newly appointed successor Lynne Fernandez has radically different views on the running of the place, both Fernandez and Nrityagram's artistic director Surupa Sen are confident that Protima will never be able to cut off from her dream project.When Protima left Mumbai in 1989 to start this dance village near Bangalore, she sold off all her property. According to Sen, Protima now plans to build a house outside the Nrityagram premises, where she can "live in peace". Informs Sen, "She says she'll advise us if we go there and meet her. But Nrityagram is her baby. She will never be able to stay away".Fernandez tells us of Protima's plans to go to Varanasi, find a Guru and study the Samved. "But every morning since her retirement, she has been calling at the office, wanting to know about daily affairs of Nrityagram"says Fernandez warmly.Protima formally handed over Nrityagram to Lynne Fernandez on July 10. Says Fernandez, "She said it was a birthday gift, which I could never return." Fernandez says she has been managing the affairs of Nrityagram for over two years as Protima was unwell. But after Protima suffered a mild stroke, (transient ischemic attack (TIA), she officially resigned on June 13.Appointed the Managing Trustee of Nrityagram, Fernandez is not a dancer but a Delhi based psychologist who took to stage lighting because of an interest in the performing arts. She first came to Nrityagram in December 1995 to coordinate Sen's debut and the Nrityagram ensemble's trip abroad.Protima suffered her first heart attack and was out of action for three months. Suddenly, Fernandez had to keep the place going. As Fernandez puts it, "Protima was a peon, driver, clerk cum director of Nrityagram. I made it quite clear that I was not going to slog endlessly as she did. Now, each student and staff member has her own administrative duties. They are not only responsible but answerable for them.""Protima returned three months later to find the place running smoothly without her. After that, she began to pull back" explains Fernandez. So for Fernandez, the only novelty about the official appointment is that she has to sign cheques and take the flak if anything goes wrong!Like the rebel that Protima is known to be, her successor too, describes herself as off-beat. Casually dressed in a pair of shorts, the 35 year old Fernandez quips, "The head of the Indian dance village in shorts! I better change into something more suitable. For years, I have been goading Gaurima into wearing the `right' clothes. Now, its almost a form of revenge that she tells me to dress right."All these years, Protima took important decisions like which student was good enough for a debut. Now, with Surupa Sen recently appointed as Artistic Director, the decision will mainly be hers. The first exponent of Nrityagram, Sen is already being hailed as the ideal Odissi danseuse. During her seven years at Nrityagram, Sen has made a natural transition from student to teacher. Speaking of her role at Nrityagram, Sen says,"Right now, I know I am needed there for my creativity, to enforce discipline and to co-ordinate. But very soon, there will be others who will rise to be equally good and better than me. Then, it'll be time for me to leave and carve a place for myself outside. But right now, I'm so much the child of Nrityagram, that I'm virtually unaware of the world outside."As Protima Gauri writes of Surupa, "During her years at Nrityagram, it was clear that Surupa was a born leader. She was brutally honest, worked herself to exhaustion and insisted that the others in her group follow her example. If there was an award for integrity, loylty and diligence, she would have received it."
