MALAYSIANS KINI The legendary dancer Ramli Ibrahim is very proud of his dancers from his dance company, the Sutra Dance Theatre, and he has good reason to be.

His dance company, which he established in 1983, has performed all over the world, including the famed Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Centre and Kennedy Centre.

"There is something special about Odissi done by Sutra. If not, it's not going to be that popular, it's going to be an ordinary thing," Ramli told Malaysiakini in an interview at his house.

Commenting on his new show 'Amorous Delights', which is being held every night at the Damansara Performing Arts Centre till this Sunday, he said viewers will be stumped by the beauty of Odissi and more specifically, the beauty of Odissi as done by Sutra.

"Sometimes when I see Odissi danced by another group, and I'm not being arrogant about it, but I'm like 'oh my god', if I danced like this, nobody would be interested in Odissi," he said.

Sutra, he said with pride, is known for its excellent Odissi nationally as well as internationally.

Trained in classical ballet and modern dance, Ramli said he likes to redefine modernity from an Asian perspective and finds the Western interpretation of modern dances to be boring.

Unsurprisingly, Ramli is often credited with cultivating the art of Indian classical dance, especially Odissi, in Malaysia for the past 35 years.

In 2007, he launched the Sutra Foundation in order to further cultivate more interest in traditional dance and the performing arts.

The 63-year-old shows no sign of slowing down now as he continues to do various outreach programmes, as he wants to decentralise arts and culture from the city centre, especially in Kuala Lumpur.

However, he has also been met with obstacles in the country as he has been criticised for being a Muslim doing temple dance, running into trouble with religious authorities on several occasions.

Not that that has ever stopped him, as he said he's always been driven to do whatever he feels he has to do, regardless of detractors.

This is his story, in his own words:

I ALWAYS FELT THAT YOU NEED TO FIND WHAT YOU ARE DESTINED TO DO. Your own destiny comes from you following your own conscious.

I'm not saying I'm the happiest person in the world, but I'm happy. Good, bad, ugly, I have followed that, instead of doing something I did not like.

DANCE COULD SAY IN ONE MOVEMENT what could take you three pages to describe. That's the thing about dance and theatre that is far more superior. Theatre is a much more active experience, that connection is immediate.

WILL MALAYSIAKINI STOP WHAT THEY'RE DOING (because of fear of criticism or repercussions)? Then neither will I. We all do what we are supposed to do.

Sometimes, controversy is good for artwork, as we see what Bilqis (Hijjas) has done.

THERE WILL ALWAYS BE BIGOTED PEOPLE, (and) zealots who think they want to save you and that there's only one way of looking at things.

Artists and art form recognise huge diversity. (We) recognise not a well-manicured garden, but a jungle of things happening. It is this biodiversity of culture that we are seeking.

I HAVE HAD DEALINGS WITH RELIGIOUS AUTHORITIES, but fortunately I am articulate enough to ask them, 'so what's the problem?' They seem to have left me alone (since).

WHERE IS THE MONEY THAT IS ALLOCATED TO ARTS AND CULTURE, especially to serious arts and culture. I think commercial art is something that will eventually be able to sustain itself, otherwise it would not be sustainable art.

I do still struggle for an audience, but at least I'm doing quite okay. What about the others, the young talent?

I DEFINITELY THINK THAT ARTS AND CULTURE IS VERY CENTRALISED IN KUALA LUMPUR. We're performing now in DPac, thank god for that happening, but what does Petaling Jaya or Shah Alam or Klang have?

Why concentrate it on Kuala Lumpur as the only place? What about the other major cities?

CULTURE HAS GOT TO BE DECENTRALISED. You have a place like Istana Budaya which is so huge and it eats up a lot of funding. But the National Department for Culture and Arts (JKKN) has not sufficiently worked on cultivating new audience, so they have not been able to fill that place.

Thank god from the beginning we did not cultivate just an Indian audience. We cultivated a Malaysian audience. (Our audience) wants to see good dance and good theatre.

WE HAVE ANOTHER VERY INTERESTING FESTIVAL CALLED 'ALARIPPU TO MOKSHA' in Kuala Selangor in November.

We found this wonderful temple called Sri Subramaniar Temple, it's so great and we are able to perform (inside the temple) so we brought the festival there. We've received great response to it.

ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I LIKE and do is to redefine modernity from an Asian perspective, and I feel modern ideas can also permeate in traditional forms, and using traditional forms to arrive at a different aesthetic.

I get very bored when I see so-called post, post-modern New York dance, where they try to look terribly profound when there's actually nothing there.

WE'RE NOT ABOUT THE CIRCUS. We're about celebrating the human spirit in a different kind of way. It's not about what the human body can achieve.

DANCE IS SO PHYSICAL THAT ONE IS BOUND TO GET INJURED. (We need to focus on) how to dance correctly with the right technique so that you can dance forever without having injuries.

Artists are not the kind of people you swallow up and spit them out when they turn 16.

(THE SHOW) 'AMOROUS DELIGHT' is not a direct translation, but it's based on the 100 verses from the poet Amaru, which are very, very erotic, very sensuous and about love.

SHARANAKULA THE PALM LEAF MASTER has a manuscript, with illustration of love for each verse. And I thought this would be excellent if we tried to make a dance out of it but we can only do five verses due to time (constraint)...

Odissi is perfect for this because it's also very sensuous and lyrical. It's about love, in its many situations – love in union, love in separation and deceit through love.

IN THIS BOOK OF AMARUSHATAKA, THAT IS ILLUSTRATED, you can find many erotic paintings, so don't be surprised if there's sensuality and eroticism.

IT TOOK YEARS AND YEARS TO GERMINATE THE IDEA. I waited for a chance and decided to do it this year, even though we don't have much sponsorship.

But Sutra is driven, I am a driven person and I feel that I have to do it or else I might not be interested to do it next year, so when the chance came, even without any viable sponsorship, I did it.

Amorous Delight', conceived by Ramli in collaboration with famed Odissi dancer and choreographer Meera Das, is showing at DPac at 8.30pm every night from Wednesday, July 20, till this Sunday, July 24.

MALAYSIANS KINI is a series on Malaysians you should know.

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