Laying the Foundation: The Temple of Fine Arts Kuala Lumpur

As I drive along each morning, from the vantage point of the Old Klang Road, and I must admit a little perilously, I inevitably look out for the progress of a new building along the filthy waters of the Klang River. Standing majestic, slowly clawing its way towards the skyline is a brick-red building that will stand no more than 5 floors high (and a roof terrace) but speaks louder to me (perhaps I am being simple, narrow-minded even) than all of Kuala Lumpur’s sky-scrapers! This building is the new physical realization of the heart and soul of a community with a dream.

I remember, for the longest time, that every show I attended was in benefit of this proposed building - this is still on-going! It seemed like it was taking forever to even get off the ground. I must admit that there were times when, like all doubting Thomases, I too, doubted it would ever get built. In the past few years, as my relationship with members of this community has become more profound, and my role as an artist advocate takes on greater magnitude, I have become more aware of the cost - not simply in monetary terms, but in time and energy that this project has entailed. I am incredulous at the mammoth task that these seemingly young and not-so-young, sincere and saree-clad ladies and artists, would sit together in consultation and discussion, cross-legged on the floor with the members of the building committee! Explaining and justifying the needs of the artists, and arts education, to those in management is a daunting task. Members of the building fund committee including Shantini Chandrapal tirelessly endeavored to raise millions. 

Why are ‘sprung floors’, mirrors, good ventilation, sound systems, and spaces without hindrances such as pillars essential for dance studies? Needless to say, this adds to the cost of the proposed building which will eventually house music and dance studios, lecture theatres, library facilities, and a performance auditorium, bringing it to a total of RM 10 million! I am certain that many of these meetings were heated - as it was bound to be! However, when everyone is passionately committed to a common cause but coming to the realization that each was fulfilling a different component of the larger picture, there is a surrender of personal will for the greater good. 

Faith is potent. Each component of this jigsaw seems to have been put in place by a higher power. Each believes that there is a force leading them - the presence, the pictures, the chair omnipresent – presiding over, guiding and counseling in some unseen way - urging them along to the fruition of this dream. Many years ago, a young man monk named Shantananda left his hermitage in India driven by a spiritual call. His visits across the globe were awaited with bated breath. He touched thousands of lives giving peace and tranquility like a balm in troubled times.

I am unable to contextualize the power of his teachings. Kuala Lumpur was to establish his greatest following and through dance and music, he brought together two eminent gurus of the Indian dance community, Master Gopal Shetty and Master VK Sivadas, each who at that time had their own students. His teachings, wisdom, guidance, and love won them over, clearly spreading the philosophy that there is unity in strength, and that the arts are a high form of worship. Finding a space to teach and commune was not easy until a little bungalow was rented for this purpose and subsequently bought for RM 3.2 million, as the permanent site for this vision - 23,000 square feet at 114-116 Jalan Berhala, Brickfields, founding the Temple of Fine Arts in 1981. This was the Swamiji - love and compassion, and he laid the best kind of foundation for religion in practice. He championed ideas, Establishing free medical clinics, food and welfare services, restaurants and boutiques that generate income channeled back into the organization, towards self-sustainability. This system of running an organization should be studied at a business school, but in fact, was the vision of one monk! Here the doyennes of Indian dance and the widows of the founders, Vatsale Kurup Sivadas and Radha Shetty, as well as Malar Gunaratnam, a co-director, who are into their 80s, still teach, oversee, advice and inspire! 

This is the kind of foundation that has been the fertile soil for the growth of some of Malaysia’s MOST wonderful artists of this generation – dancer, teacher, choreographer Shankar Kandasamy, and his brother who is part of the current toast of KL – Inner Space tabla musician Prakash Kandasamy, his wife pianist-composer Jyotsna Prakash, sitar player Kumar Kathigesu and Umesh Shetty – celebrated dancer and choreographer. What makes this group even more outstanding is their complete unassumingness, real humility, and generosity of knowledge combined with an all-consuming commitment to music, dance, and the arts. These are not the faces that are most frequently featured in the press or on television, and in fact, they are usually tongue-tied with reporters or when thrust into the limelight (re: acceptance speeches at Cameronian Arts Awards!). Their shows are not the performances attended by well-coiffured Datins or powerful government officials or high-powered corporate figures (although this is changing with commissioned performances for corporate giants such as HSBC and the wife of the Prime Minister counts as one of their patrons), but they are able to fill the 1300-seat Istana Budaya theatre for a week! This is a testimony to the quality of the performances and the sincerity of the artists involved. Passion drives them to work into the wee hours of the morning. Their bonds of love for each other developed from childhood, and the mutual respect and their uncompromising quest for excellence, make them think nothing of working, re-working, and rehearsing until their bodies are drenched in sweat, their fingers blistered, the muscles screaming with pain that no amount of vitamin B injections will take away. I have witnessed this firsthand and it leaves me in awe especially when dancers such as Dhanya Thurairajah and Shree Vidhya Nagendrem are medical doctors in ‘real life’ although I am curious as to which is, in fact, more ‘real’ to them. It is no surprise then, that this group of artists has received numerous accolades from the fraternity.     

It is also in these times that I think of the other pioneers such as Lee Lee Lan who began her ‘little school’ called the Federal Academy of Ballet in 1967, teaching in school halls and running around Kuantan, Malacca, KL and Ipoh trying to make a living doing what she loved the most. Today, boasting an enrollment of nearly 2000 students studying ballet, modern dance, jazz and tap, it must be one of the largest private dance schools in the world! A study on this has not been done (to my knowledge) but it may not be far from the truth! What about the other master – Ramli Ibrahim whose every cell of his body shouts out his artistry! His temple or tokong or masjid or church or however you may call it - is the Sutra House that should be featured in every travel and living magazine, and television show on earth. I have traveled far and wide but have never come across another ‘gedung kesenian’ quite like this. The recently launched Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre is a venue that artists should be proud to have in the capital city. The dedication of Faridah Merican, Malaysia’s First Lady of Theatre, and her husband Joe Hasham, have made this a reality with the corporate support of YTL Sdn. Bhd. and the compassion of the late Endon Mahmood, wife of the former Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi. There is also another kind of institution – that which is not housed in a grand building but built on foundations no less strong and possibly more important. With intelligence, creativity and unrivaled pursuit of excellence, or as the tagline states “20 years on the edge”, Five Arts Centre has nurtured, produced and directed some of the finest art seen in Malaysia. What accolade has not been showered on the late Krishen Jit, and how fitting that there is now an ASTRO Krishen Jit Fund providing financial assistance for a variety of arts projects? 

This is the ground upon which to build a nation of arts-loving people as diverse as our cultural heritage itself. Perhaps too, the stories of the late traditional masters such as Dollah Baju Merah, Hamzah Awang Amat, Khadijah Awang, Syed Hussin, Noorsiah Yem, Said Manap, Ahmad Omar, Low Kee Sien, Shaari Raja Gondang who have played a significant role in the foundation for arts in Malaysia, some of which have already been documented, will be told another day.       

The establishment of these institutions is a testament to the dreams of these individuals or groups of individuals. After 30 years of dancing and teaching, I look and learn from these pillars of Malaysian theatre – I am in constant amazement, am humbled, and am driven to replicate their work within the realm of the Faculty of Dance at ASWARA and my own life as an artist. I owe it to the legacy of these giants. The drive….the belief…their dreams…the power of inspiration…I toast the spirit of Swamiji Shantanand Saraswati as we look set to welcome the latest addition to the landscape of performing arts in Kuala Lumpur – a sanctuary for the arts – the new Temple of Fine Arts building. Congratulations!