The arts are bigger than us: Dancer Navtej Johar

Bharatnatyam dancer, yoga exponent, LGBTQ rights activist… Navtej Singh Johar wears many hats, each of them fitting him perfectly. His quiet demeanour in no way gives away the fact that his life has been all about breaking stereotypes. Decades ago, he plunged into uncharted waters as a Sikh man taking up an Indian classical dance practice from Tamil Nadu. More recently, Johar, 64, was also the driving force behind the landmark judgment passed by the Supreme Court in 2018, unanimously decriminalising consensual sexual conduct between adults of the same sex.

That Johar’s lithe frame is home to a steely spirit and strong beliefs becomes apparent even during a brief chat with him. Talking about the pathbreaking steps he has taken, Navtej Singh Johar reveals that the course came naturally to him. 

“I was always interested in the arts, and while I was pursuing theatre I realised that I enjoyed moving with the body,” he said, recalling his foray into Bharatnatyam, during a conversation with us during the Swara Mountain Arts Festival organised by Jagori Rural Charitable Trust at their campus at Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh. “There was resistance of course from the family but once they understood that it was something that I wanted to do, and I was not just being stupid, they accepted it.”

The Sangeet Natak Award-winning dancer now sees dismal times ahead for classical Indian performing arts, especially in the present social milieu. And the percolation of Western influence is the least of the threats, he feels. 

“More than Western culture, what has killed the traditional Indian arts is nationalism,” he said. “Because when you are bearing the cross of nationalism, you are not dancing anymore. Dance is about practising a reflective art, it’s not about sloganeering. We have confused everything beyond redemption.”

Navtej Johar is however more optimistic about the Indian folk arts. “Social media and the Karan Johar phenomenon have influenced folk art. But it’s still there,” he said, adding that these are organic arts, and that problems arise when we start to bear the responsibility of preserving them. 

“Left to themselves, these arts will flourish,” he said. “Once we start taking their custodianship, they begin to suffocate. Who are we to promote or preserve heritage? The arts are bigger than us.” 

He holds the same belief for yoga, which he finds closely linked to dance. 

“Actually mainstream India was never into yoga. It was a subculture. No parent wanted their child to become a yogi because they were on the margins,” he said. “But now it has become a trend.” 

Another Indian aspect that has always enticed Johar is rural life, although he grew up in Chandigarh. 

“My family moved across the border during Partition, so we have no ancestral land or village here. But village life always attracted me,” he said, talking about his homestay initiative in Punjab’s Chamaru village, which he set up during the farmers’ protest in 2020-2021.

Johar also thinks that the urban-rural divide is blurred when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights. 

“The issue is kept under the carpet even in cities,” he said. “In fact, it may be more readily accepted in villages. I live in a village. I have no problems and everybody knows, as is the case for me in a city,” he added, admitting however that it may be true to some extent that the issue may be a bigger taboo in rural India. “But I have also been very surprised with what I have seen in rural India in terms of acceptance of alternate sexual identities.” 

Ask him about what he would like to tell the younger generation of classical dancers, and he is certain that he would wish them to remain wary of “ideas.”

“Today, we are dancing to illustrate ideas. But dance is a practice, not an idea. So if you are labouring under ideas that it is a great art or heritage, then it will not bear resonance,” he said, emphasising that Bharatnatyam is a beautiful dance form but it’s been a long time since he revelled in someone’s performance. 

“Look into the body, don’t try to master it. That itself is a very colonial idea, and that’s what dance and yoga have been made about,” said Navtej Johar. “We are dancing to express that which an idea or words or speech cannot express.”

Also Read: Vacation for a cause at Navtej Johar’s village homestay

Pallavi Srivastava is Associate Director – Content at Village Square.