My journey as I work towards Bharatanatyam for all

My journey as I work towards Bharatanatyam for all

My guru, Smt. Maheshwari Nagarajan (Amma)

Learning in Bharatanatyam is a lifelong process, and I am fortunate enough to still keep learning from my gurus (Maheshwari Amma, Vanitha Didi, and Jayan Sir) who are based in Ahmedabad, India.

My journey towards Bharatanatyam for all has been twofold:

• Continuing to learn and develop my understanding of Bharatanatyam from my gurus, and
• Exploring aspects of the dance form that can be used for a contemporary audience, with or without disabilities.

In my non-dance life, I find myself teaching, educating, and facilitating, with my “scientist” cap on and a considerable amount of responsibility to ensure that the learners in my class are learning the basics of evolution, or genetics, or neuroscience. However, in dance class with Maheshwari Amma and Vanitha Didi, I am a student, and my job is to learn and absorb. This shift of mindset does come with a specific and unique set of responsibilities, but is a welcome relief from my academic work and is extremely conducive to learning. Getting this opportunity to learn from my gurus and deepening my understanding of the form is a way of upholding the tradition and its lineage. 

Bharatanatyam’s depth is rooted in Indian culture and history and the various cultural and political upheavals that India went through. It may seem counterintuitive to use a 2,000-year-old art form to express current thought, but given that the form and its pedagogy is steeped in nuance and depth, to me, it seems natural! Besides, a dance form that has thrived in spite of disruptive forces such as colonization has in it the power to withstand disorder, and be relevant to diverse populations.

My science, science writing, and science education training also come in handy here. The strategy I use to make Bharatanatyam relevant and understandable to all is not so different from writing about science for a lay audience. I have written here how my scientific training makes me a better dancer, and how my dance training makes me a better scientist.

The scientific principle of synaptic plasticity (the capacity of the brain to change with experiences), the positive impact of movement for mental health, and the power of self-expression lie at the core of my work.  

---