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The pleasure principle >>Erotic dancer Shakti returns to the Fringe with Kama Sutra: The Book of Love
by RUPERT BOTTENBERG
Mirror: I understand you were involved in some sort of scandal or controversy in Greece, from where you've just returned? Shakti: Yes. I was asked to perform in Athens, at the theatre at the bottom of the Acropolis, for the Japan Festival. But then a week before, I got an e-mail saying sorry, they had to cancel my part of the show, because the Greek side said it was too controversial, too scandalous for them. And I think the photographs we sent in were some of the tamer ones, too. They haven't even seen the show, but they said there was too much eroticism in the nature of it. But then, I also had a performance in a small town in the north, which you'd think would be more conservative. As soon as I mentioned to them that our performance in Athens was cancelled, the theatre there was delighted. They used that, saying, "Athens won't accept it, but we will." So they were even more eager to have me there, and put even more effort into it. It was wonderful.
Boning up on the Book of Love
S: Oh, I did, in Greece. Me, myself and I. I say "we" because my mother, who is my artistic and technical director, came with me. On stage I was solo. But then for Montreal, I'm bringing a troupe. Kama Sutra requires a troupe, it's a group performance. M: Tell me about Kama Sutra... S: People think it's a manual on sex. But it's "the Book of Love," a book on how to find the sexuality within you, how to bring it to life, how to live that sexuality and become one with it. I think people are either afraid to bring out their sexuality, or they're trying to be simply sexy, and not sexual. There's a difference. You can be sexy and not sexual, or sexual but not sexy. That's why the Kama Sutra is so beautiful. It explains the importance of sexuality, in sex and in spiritual matters. The first thing is, it tells you to adore your body. The body's considered to be the temple of God, and God's greatest gift to mankind. Not something to be suppressed, but something to be eulogized. If you see the walls of the Hindu temple at Kajaraho, the sculptures there are voluptuous, erotic, directly sexual. But the expressions are so joyous and ecstatic. It's nothing to be done in a dingy dark room, but rather in the sunlight, in nature. M: Do you think that's a very Indian understanding of sexuality? S: I think so, at least the ancient Indians. Because ever since British ruled India, the whole concept has changed. M: Yeah, I guess if anyone's going to drain the sex out of something... S: It's the British! (laughs) Because now I'm censored in India, too! We've been trying to do the Kama Sutra in India, and there are people trying to bring it over, but the government has stopped us.
Chakra chat S: Our concept of the Kama Sutra is based on the seven chakras of yoga, the energy points of the body. When each chakra awakens, with it will awaken another concentration of desire. In Indian mythology, the world began with a drop of desire. Without this drop of desire, nothing can happen. That's a beautiful concept right there. Buddhism denies desire, Hinduism is the result of desire. M: Mm-hmm. S: If you want go from here to there, to step forth, you need the desire to go. Each chakra has a different sexuality in it, and if you want a full understanding of sexuality, you have to awaken each one, to feel that particular sensation. In that sense, the Kama Sutra has no taboos, no morality. There's no morality in nature, only what is and what is not. The physical body is governed by the laws of nature, not society. M: Uh-huh. S: But that's our philosophy. To be more practical, what are we going to do on stage? (laughs) We're not going to do a live sex act, definitely not! We portray the book in seven parts, each one representing a chakra. The first is at the base of the spine, right by the anus. That's the chakra for self-love. The second is in the pelvic region, from where the anima instinct, the male-female principle, arises. The third is in the navel, which is the love of the same sex. In the Kama Sutra, homosexuality, bisexuality and heterosexuality, everything was accepted. Because the physical body, or rather the desire within, is wide enough to accept all. The next level is the heart chakra, which is the bondage principle--sado-masochism. This can go to extremes in many societies, but the sado-masochistic instinct definitely exists in human beings. Everybody has it. Every animal has it. The question is, how are you going to live it up, how are you going to play with it?
Your roots are showing M: Let's talk about your background, because we were discussing your mom. Now, she's Japanese, but she's the one who exposed you to Indian dance and culture. S: She was the first Japanese woman to bring Indian dance to Japan, about 45 years ago. And my father is Indian... M: Right, he's a professor of philosophy... S: His main job was as a professor of English at the Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, but he was also the director of the Gandhi Institute, where he taught philosophy and Hinduism and everything. He was also a yogi--he taught me yoga. I always thought that everybody eats, sleeps, does yoga and dances. So I was a little surprised when I went to school and found that not everyone does yoga and meditation.
Scandalized Scots M: When you got to university, you also studied modern dance in America. Between the classical Indian and modern Western styles, what would you say you've gained from each? S: My roots are Indian. The discipline, the centering of the body, closer to the earth, the whole path of the body, everything is from Indian dance and yoga. But what I learned in America--I studied with Martha Graham and Alvin Ailey--was that American freedom. It was how you can keep creating. Even with the rigid discipline, America gave me a freedom that I couldn't find in the East. When I came back to Japan, I decided I was going to go away from the yoga and the Indian dance, and create my own style, just as Martha Graham did with ballet. M: Has anyone ever come up to you to say that your work had helped them deal with their sexual hang-ups? S: Yes! When we did Kama Sutra in Edinburgh, all the reviews were scandalous! This is pornography! The city tried to keep me out. The reports were really bad, but people came anyway. They came with a different mind--dirty minds. Then they realized there was a lot more to it. You know, a lot of British women are very repressed. They would come up to me and talk about how repressed they've been, and what is proper and what is not. They feel that what they were brought up with fastens them, and that it could be different, if they tried. Of course, a lot of people walked out, also. M: Why, they just can't deal with it? S: Yes, and they walk out in the first five minutes. We haven't done anything yet, by that point! (laughs) |
She's something of a Fringe Fest fixture by now. Japanese dancer Shakti, whose erotically charged efforts lie somewhere between high-brow ballet and bump 'n' grind, is back for her third visit to Montreal. This time around, she's bringing a troupe and tackling no less than the classic text of Hindu eroticism, the Kama Sutra.
M: You keep saying we--so you're not doing a solo piece this time?