Coming full circle - Part 1

There were a few dancers in the family for inspiration: an aunt (mother's younger sister - Dakshayani/Daksha chikkamma), a cousin (mother's older brother's daughter - Sudha/akka), another aunt (father's younger brother's wife - Shakuntala/Shaku chikkamma) and another cousin (father's older brother's daughter - Indira/akka).  I remember seeing Daksha chikkamma dance to "aaDa pogoNu baarO ranga".  Sudhakka  had given me her baitale boTTu that is made of all white stones.  I have treasured it, the metal is rusty now.  I remember Shaku chikkamma getting ready for a performance in Shimoga, she was a mother of three little boys.  Indrakka had done my hair and makeup for a performance in the ganapati penDaal in Chennappa Layout Shimoga..  I had performed  Ganesha Kautukam and Jathiswaram.The sonTada paTTi she gave me during my last  trip to India finds home in my  treasure box. 

Many connoisseurs of the arts in the extended family and growing up in the Malnad area, rich in culture and heritage all played a role in paving the way.  I am also told that I owe it to my older siblings for noticing the talent in me and urging the parents to enroll in formal lessons.

State Level Competition in Tarikere

Dance School Annual Day in Shimoga

My training in Bharatanatya started when I was six, under Guru. Sri. M. R. Krishnamurthy in Shimoga.  He taught me the rigor and discipline, laying a clean and solid foundation with adavus.  Classes were three to five times a week.  I walked 15 mins each way to class at his humble abode in BasavanaguDi from Jayanagar 1st cross where we lived at that time.  He was old and lost his eye sight, but, I remember, he would hit the cane with such precision, just inches away from our feet if there was a mistake.  I must have had this good fortune for about three years, by when he passed away.  Training continued under his daughter Pushpa for another year.  Later I joined Guru Sri. Ravi Datar's well established dance school in Shimoga, with role models like Smt. Usha Datar and Geetha Datar who are my Guru's siblings.  This time it was a 15 min bicycle ride to class with uniform, green salwar and white dupaTTa.  Many performances, travel opportunities, prizes, accolades, myriad  experiences, some wonderful, some not, all happened in the following years.  But what remains etched in memory is the pure joy experienced while dancing.  Every summer, as the extended families all got together, it was dance that I brought to the mix at the family talent shows.  After about ten years of dancing, like it was for most students back then who entered 10th grade, academics took precedence over everything else.  Somehow dance never came back on the fore front since then,  until . . . . .

My newly wed husband reminded me to pack the few pictures that were there of my dance journey as I left home to take flight into a new world with him.  He believed more than I did that I would resume dancing.  On his insistence, I danced for him to "mella mellane bandane" on the Sakur Plateau in Lonavala on our honeymoon :-)  We were quick to connect with people with similar interest in the far away land and find opportunities to rekindle the dancing spark.  Made some wonderful dancer friends and rehearsed for occasional performances, albeit far and few between, since I was also pursuing a Masters Degree, starting a career in Engineering and starting a family.

Two little angels entered our lives!  It was but natural that I did not want to deny them the bliss I had experienced with pure dance.  To want something is one thing, but then for it to actually happen, the universe has to want it too.  Or perhaps like Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen."  We found Guru. Smt Sridevi Thirumalai.  Thus started the 45 mins drive each way to Natyamani School Of Dance, twice a week.  And watching hours of practice at home.  The children developed liking for the art form.  They were willing to do what it takes to consistently train for about 8-9 years and blossom into mature dancers as they gracefully did the Rangapravesha this past summer in Mysore, India.  In a state of the art auditorium, the stage decor was simple and elegant with hanging diyas and strings of real jasmine flowers!  Lord Nataraja was watching over them from one side and the musicians and the Guru supporting them on the other side.  As I watched them perform the Pushpanjali, Jathiswara, Thillana in perfect sync and execute their guru's intricate and creative choreography, narrate stories like pros in the Varnam, Padams and Javali, my heart overflowed with joy and gratefulness.  All dancers in the family I mentioned earlier, except for Sudhakka watched them perform.  I'd like to believe she did too, from up there.

The stars all aligned and we were in Shimoga for their performance on a cool monsoon Friday evening, in Kuvempu Ranga Mandira.  A week prior to their performance, I heard of another program, Noopura Utsava 2014, organized by Pushpa Performing Arts, where the students of my first Guru's daughter's dance school were performing.  I brought the girls to watch Noopura Utsava where I saw this with the rest of the decoration on the stage.
 

Guru Sri M. R. Krishnamurthy

On the same stage, a week later, the girls performed in the presence of my parents, many relatives and friends who reminisced about my performances decades ago and blessed my daughters all the same.  The children have a stories of their own now and I hope they will write so I have them to read when I am old and frail.  Who knows, some day my grand children might chance upon this blog post and find it amusing :-)

Nrutya Sambhrama @ Kuvempu Rangamandira in Shimoga