First steps towards creating classical contours

Many years later, when she is ready for her Bharatnatyam Arangetram (first solo dance debut), she is silently thanking her mother.
Malvika Krishnan
Malvika Krishnan

Malvika Krishnan could never tell what hit her about dance and how she became besotted by it. It happened very suddenly, when she was still in grade three, entirely upon her mother’s suggestion. Back then, she didn’t know it would become a harbinger of utmost happiness in the years to come. She simply followed her mother’s wishes, trusting the universe to take care of the rest. Many years later, when she is ready for her Bharatnatyam Arangetram (first solo dance debut), she is silently thanking her mother. 

The years have made her wise. She has turned into a confident young lady, ready to embark on a beautiful journey where dance will guide her path to a lifetime of creative exploration.  Stories spark connections. The way in which a visual language speaks is communicative and creative, thus striking a chord with those consuming it.

Dance, likewise, as a visual medium, has acted as a social binder. In fact, tracing back its visual relevance to the 50s, dance was used to eradicate the epidemic of social isolation after the cold war. It was terribly dark time when this movement art brought hope. It gave people an opportunity to express, just like it continues to after hundreds of decades. “Bharatnatyam has given me direction.

I’ve performed contemporary dance too, but I always come back to classical as it resounds with the intention of purity. There is a kind of rigidity in the dace form that has kept its original form alive,” she says with a smile.

Krishnan has received her dance education from Marie Elangovan and Elangovan Govindarajan for over 10 years, at the Parampara Centre for Indian Classical Music and Dance. Besides Bharatnatyam, she plays the piano too. “This happened by stroke of luck. The new house we were moving into already had a piano that its residents left for us. My brother and I, tried our hands at it and soon took to enjoying it a lot,” says Krishnan, who would like to make a career in Business Management. But dance will always remain her priority.November 25: Deshmukh Auditorium, Indian International Centre, 11 am onwards.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com