"I intend to juxtapose the real energy of Punjab with my performance, but I don't want to mould it for my dance's sake." That is the Chandigarh boy Navtej Singh Johar, who has risen to be one of the exponents of Bharatnatyam, speaking of his latest venture for which he has begun the research. Navtej came to his home town for a performance at Tagore Theatre arranged by the Department of Cultural Affairs of the Haryana government. Speaking to Newsline, the yogic looking Navtej delineated himself as well as his dance, which at times goes modern and contemporary that some of the traditionalists in the country have objected to.

"I have gone into dance from theatre and performance exceeds the rest. Bharatnatyam is just one aspect of my life which, at the same time, fulfils me in a way nothing else can. When I do something different, it is the result of some urge that was triggered by Bharatnatyam but not fulfilled by it. Since Bharatnatyam does not allow me to fully explore myself, I attempt other forms, theatre for example. The physical and athletic elements of theatre blend with the lyrical and expressive components of dance to make my form a theatrical performance. Here I can go berserk but I can't in Bharatnatyam".

That we saw recently when he danced in his working clothes with a bed as a symbol, during the programme in Delhi with the bigwig, Justin McCarthy which left the audience spellbound. "There was this British composer's beautiful creation in which he had superimposed the voice of a tramp who sang gospels on a soaring stringed orchestra. It symbolised the spirituality of human conditions. If you ask me, was it Bharatnatyam, then it was not but then it is, it is an extension of Bharatnatyam. I just want this freedom."

Hence, he is not the one to do the same `padam' or `varnam', the customary items of the dance form. "Each one has a context but it is remotely connected to the present context." So is it that you want your audience to relate to what you are trying to present? "No, before that I should relate to myself".

And for that, he uses his yoga training which began simultaneously with his lessons in Bharatnatyam. "But earlier there was conflict within me, for though both help one explore the inner realms, they are diametrically opposite. It is not the physical exercise of yoga that I do but the real yoga." The conflict reached such an extent that he had to leave yoga only to come back to it now.

"Surprisingly now there is no sense of being torn apart. May be I have become mature over the years." The penetratingly tranquil eyes speak for that.

But is there any plan to settle in the city from where he began his journey? "At times, I feel like running away from Delhi. Chandigarh of course draws me for this is my home town as I came to the city at the age of three." This alumnus of the Department of Indian Theatre at the Punjab University is indebted to theatre personality G.S. Channy. "He is the one who brought me into the performance world way back in `78 and had it not been for his unconventional introduction that liberated me, I would have been stifled by the ordinary".