In so many ways, 2025 was a year of performances. And yet, it was also a year that forced me to slow down and acknowledge that Bharatanatyam is like any sport that takes its toll on your body. There's a reason sportspeople retire in their late 30s! As I look back at our performances this year, I wonder what the years ahead have in store for me. Yet, no matter what, I realise how grateful I am to the community we have, our dance family that has been together for so many years.The year of performances began with one that I've written about already---at Marigold Balaji Temple in Kalyani Nagar, Pune.Two months later, we staged a much bigger performance, and what a joy it was to work on it! I continued to take on smaller roles as a dancer because my knee hadn't (and still hasn't) healed entirely, but this performance was special in all kinds of ways.The most significant, for me, was playing … [Read more...]
Of Performances and Community
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 through. Our teacher, Guru Mythili Raghavan, was more than a little upset.Immediately, in stepped Ashwini to organise another performance for us. We would, after all, perform in a temple: Marigold Balaji Temple in Kalyani Nagar.We continued to practise the way we always do—together.But then, two weeks ago, I injured my knee, and all our girls reminded me of what makes us *us*. I had tears in eyes as I watched from the sidelines.One piece was rechoreographed. Everyone’s part changed. Watching it, though, no one would know.In another piece, two dancers (Nisha and Resham) had to exchange roles.In a third piece, Manasi stepped in to do my part, despite all her stress of travel and … [Read more...]
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 it for days after, and we can't wait to do it again. And elaborate dance dramas? They're special.Many of us have been part of dance dramas before. We've done the Ramayana twice and Kasturi Tilakam (which takes us through Krishna's life) multiple times.But Chandalika was different. The first reason was the music. Accustomed as we are to Carnatic music, choreography was a struggle. The thaal is different; the raags are different; everything seemed alien to us. I sat with a notebook and calculated the number of beats in each dance and divided them into steps. Another member of our troupe learned the music, sang and recorded pieces for us to practise.All of us worked together, week after week, slowly … [Read more...]
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 dance experiences. I wrote about going online with our dance classes and everything that went with it, but already, less than six months after I wrote that post, so much has changed. It's wonderful how much more comfortable my teacher is with the online medium. What I love is how generous she is when it comes to giving credit where it is due! Nisha taught her how to leave and rejoin 'the shortcut way', as she calls it. She knows how to mute and unmute. She can pin and unpin. Changing the layout is easy too, as is working with all the delays and lags. It's grand!We also managed to hold our very first online dance programme for our younger students! We try to do something for Dashami each year, and here are a few glimpses of what 2020 … [Read more...]
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 a dance programme. It's the one day in the year that parents are allowed to come for class and watch them dance! Dressed in their best, adjusting their bangles and dupattas, they are the stars of the show.Plus, there's food. It's like a party because our teacher, Mythili Mami, makes sundal for all of us. When I say 'all of us', I do really mean that. There are about 50 students in all, plus parents. There are workers in the society, who clean the hall and collect the garbage. There's the watchman and his family and other people who happen to be around. All morning, my teacher works towards making our Dashami special.Apart from sundal, we have chips and pedas. We dance and have a small ritual where we go … [Read more...]
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 unused to anything technological, what are you supposed to do?Yesterday, our dance teacher Mythili Mami clicked those three vertical dots, found and clicked 'change layout', and chose a tiled layout. We all roared with appreciation and clapped. To understand the import of what she achieved and why we were so excited, here's a little background.The BackstoryMy teacher uses nothing technological. She still uses audio cassettes, as far as she can, rather than CDs -- because CDs are so difficult to rewind and fast-forward on a player (rather than a computer). She is uncomfortable with a smart phone. Swiping is strange to her, and impossible if your hands are wet. Touching … [Read more...]
Bangalore 2020
Bangalore is probably among my favourite cities in the world. I love the weather, I love the trees (even though so many have been cut), and most of all, I love the mood of the city. As a child, I used to spend every summer there, at my grandparents'. Now, I continue to go there at least once a year, sometimes more.This year, I went for my great-aunt's 80th birthday. For a long time, my great aunt and great uncle have been asking us to perform at the senior citizens' residency where they live, and we finally did! It was lovely, absolutely lovely.They last saw us perform when we did our Arangetram - over 15 years ago. To their minds, we had just continued. We performed and all of that, but I don't think they expected us to be professional dancers. They were overwhelmed, and that's what makes me feel that a performance was possibly the best gift we could have given my great aunt for her … [Read more...]
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 more. I continued to teach, but practising and performing were out of the question. I was restless, of course, but I do know that I gained much from the experience.For one, for the first time in many years, I watched our troupe perform. I wrote about it in a Facebook post, and it sums up what I feel.So often, when we perform, people come and tell us how much they enjoyed the show. When I listen to their wonderful responses, particularly if I'm happy with the performance myself, I long to be two people. I long to watch, while also dancing. I want to see us.At today's performance, I will.Anyone who's ever worked as part of a troupe knows this: there's no 'me' and 'you' when we dance together. We go together, we dance together.And so, … [Read more...]
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 been more driven to learn? Or would we have wanted to stop learning dance? I was one of those kids who loved exams, but I was also one of those kids who hated dance, so I have no way of knowing.Now, though, as I watch children say the adavu shollu kattu and respond to the examiners' questions, I realise how many things I enjoy about being on the opposite side of students appearing for their dance exams. Here are a few that come to mind.The littlest ones sometimes wear dupattas for the first time for their exam. They beam as they stand before the examiners, dressed up in dangling earrings and kajal. Some are like mannequins, barely touching anything they're wearing; others continually pat the dupatta around their waists. I … [Read more...]
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 their own rules and rigorous demands. What other field has a saying like 'The show must go on'?I think the joy of a performance is that it feels like a huge secret that the artistes share. A secret is special. It creates oneness, like being part of an inside joke. What unfolds on stage is just a tiny part of everything that goes into a performance - hours of rehearsal, chatter and choreography; rising tempers, annoyance and laughter; work, play and food; balancing family, professional lives and dance.Where we perform is often secondary, for me. What I, as an individual dancer, "get to do" is also secondary. It's dancing together that unfailingly gives me a high.Knowing another dancer so well that I can predict what she will do … [Read more...]