師弟関係/ Guru-shishya parampara

The article touches various aspects such as the differences between ‘teacher’ and ‘guru’. It also quotes interviews of dancers from a variety of perspectives. We have similar words in  Japanese to describe ‘guru’  or ‘guru-shishya parampara’ maybe because of the similarity of the Asian cultures but I can see the reason why guru became an English word as it can not simply be a synonym to teacher.

日本人としてインド舞踊を現地の師匠について習うには、同じアジア的な感覚だから理解できることもできないことも沢山あると思います。私は日本で生まれ育ちましたが、インドで弟子入りする前にロンドンのーオープンで多様な雰囲気でカタックを習っていたからか、インドの修行中は葛藤との戦いでした。

Being someone who grew up in Japan and learning an Indian classical dance form under the Indian traditional frame could be an advantage to naturally read between the lines, which are common in some Asian cultures but, at the same time,  it also be a challenge to deeply face the deep-rooted unchanging culture. I personally felt it quite challenging to put myself immersed into the culture maybe because I had been used to the diverse kathak culture of London before I moved to Delhi.

どの国や文化の価値観が正しいのか分からなくなり、とても混乱し、高いヒエラルキーの壁と師匠の偉大な存在にに自分を見失い、自分の頭で考えることを止めてしまっていたと思います。今思えば、そうでなければカタックに深く向き合うことができなかったし、記事でも言及されているクラス以外の師匠との時間を過ごせることもなかった思います。

My sense of right and wrong got mixed and I felt greatly confused with my identity, being almost blinded from myself with the enormously high wall of the hierarchy and the great power of the gurus. Ithink I stopped thinking with my own brain that time. Now if I think of that time back, the challenge might have been a necessary process to understand, learn and face to the dance form deeper, spending time with the gurus outside of the classes.

もちろん修行を通して、人生で誇れる経験をさせて頂いたことに変わりはないです。それでもやはり、昔ながらの師弟関係に目を瞑る時代はもう終わるべきだと思うし、次の世代には雑務や雑用、マッサージや暗黙の理解や沈黙などの不利益な部分を被って欲しくないと願います。コロナの影響で、対面でダンスを習うのも暫く厳しくなってしまいましたが、これから自分も含めて新しい時代がこうやって声を上げてどう動くか楽しみです。

Of course, I have gained irreplaceable precious experience of life from learning the art form, yet, I hope this is the time to move forward to healthier world. I do not want the coming generation to suffer from the disadvantages that the old tradition offers. Though learning dance face to face is difficult due to the coronavirus, I look forward to see how the tradition changes next, including myself, raising awareness of the society.