"The atmosphere now is starkly different from when I was growing up learning dance," says Dr Anita Ratnam, an Indian contemporary performer, dissenter, and public figure. "Once we put everybody on pedestals, they become untouchable," she adds.
Changing times have effected a paradigm shift in the way classical dance, music, and performing arts are perceived, and have brought the ecosystem under the scanner. Courtesy: an evolved pedagogy that encourages critical thinking which helps rationalise power and information gaps, and a better-informed audience who root for representation and intersectionality in the arts.