I love solitude. Yet, whenever we perform, we come together in ways the audience can never know, and I’m beyond grateful. This time, it began with a performance that fell […]
My Year in Dance: 2023
I love when I write in detail about a performance shortly after the show! The emotions are fresh, and so many details that we slowly forget are still crystal clear. […]
Chandalika 2023
The four roles I played – dahiwala (curd seller), farmer, king’s messenger, and mother’s disciple What does one say after a performance? Performing is like a drug. We’re high on […]
Remembering, Mourning, Celebrating
I’ve taken a while to write about Raghavan uncle. There’s so much to say, so much to process. People call and ask me how Mythili Mami is, how everyone is. […]
My Year in Dance – 2020
Each year, I write about all our performances, all our little dance anecdotes and all the travel that goes with dance. This year? We had a whole new set of […]
Dashami – Version 2020
Dashami is special. Each year, we have a small performance for all the children at dance class. They wear nice clothes and jewellery. Their faces glow with the anticipation of […]
Online Dance Class
Yesterday, at dance class, we broke into spontaneous applause. You know how sometimes, when someone’s internet connection falters during an online class, the layout suddenly changes? And if you’re completely […]
My Year in Dance
2019 was not an easy year for me as a dancer. In February, I fell and sprained an already weak ankle and nursed a swollen ankle for three months or […]
Dance Exams
We didn’t have dance exams when we were children, and I think I’m glad of that. Sometimes, though, I wonder – if we had appeared for exams, would we have […]
Arangetram – Sakshi and Shivona
As I write this post, I look back at the number of times I’ve written about an Arangetram. Some are just posts sharing details of upcoming arangetrams, but others … […]
World Dance Day 2019
What did you do on World Dance Day? We put up two performances! To be completely honest, we did not plan the performances keeping World Dance Day in mind; things […]
Experiences on Stage – Udupi
Performances, performances. So often, the joy of dancing on stage comes from the story it creates, which can be told and retold ad infinitum. I’ve written about this before, so […]
Performances Ahead
Why do we dance? And why do people suspend their lives for a couple of hours to watch? Performing arts seem to exist in a world of their own, with […]
Reading, Writing, Dancing
Two weeks ago, I asked the children at my Writers’ Club whether they would like to make readers laugh or cry. Three girls said they wanted to make readers laugh. […]
Back from Bali
Today, I finally finished writing my travelogue, which is over 50 pages long. I needed to get that done quickly before I forgot all the details! And now, I can […]
Performing in Varanasi
The last time I visited Varanasi, I was nearly run down by a charging bull. Not surprisingly, when the planning began for a dance trip to Varanasi, I was not […]
Why Performances are Fun
Anyone who has ever performed knows about the adrenalin rush, the energy, the feeling of having achieved something. But more than all of these, I think performances are fun because […]
Dashami Poojai
Each year, we have a poojai at dance class for Dashami. Now, at the Academy of Indian Dances, there are four teachers, including me. Mythili Mami is, of course, head; […]
Our Performance Last Week
Many things went wrong. Too many things went wrong. Mahatma Phule Sanskrutik Bhavan informed us on the 5th of December that the mayor required the hall on the 18th, so […]
Kalakshetra Performance – The New Indian Express
Yes, we really performed. Even though the picture does not show it, I was really there too.