KOCHI: A lithe girl in a pink tutu gracefully moves her limbs onstage, reminding you of the ballet performances in Darren Aronofsky’s ‘Black Swan’. Cut to a home video where one sees the same girl moving her lean arms at the speed of light, in a technique termed Waacking, with the finesse of a sharpened performer. The former scene is from a Kochi-based band, When Chai Met Toast’s latest EP, Believe. And the latter, from her bedroom. Meet Anagha Maria Varghese, the 22-year-old Kochiite taking over spot-choreography competitions in the city by storm.
Anagha has more feathers on her hat than you ever thought could exist. Riding high on the success of her choreography with her working partner, Rishdhan Abdul Rasheed, in the Asif Ali-starrer ‘Iblis’, the actor-choreographer-dancer-model tastes success by the day. Her social media followers attribute her success to her hard work. And how did she reach this space? “I had basic training in bharatanatyam. Kalamandalam Sugandhi was one among my gurus. Nevertheless, I couldn’t continue training,” says Anagha.
A child of this generation, reality shows and YouTube shone torches onto her path. “During my Class XII vacations, I joined the dance studio, The Floor, and trained in contemporary styles. Arunima Gupta, founder of The Floor, is my true guru,” she shares.
Since then, Anagha’s graph showed a positive slope. Dance would be her profession and life, she had decided. And she wasn’t one to forget the ladder she had climbed on. Wanting to try her luck in reality shows, she joined one with her dance partner, Krishnanand. The couple reached till the semi finals but chose to quit after Anagha suffered injuries during practice.
Not one to give up, the strong-willed girl assisted her teacher Arunima for ballet classes at The Floor, and later worked at the studio as a faculty. The footloose dancer is quite the rage during spot choreography competitions. “I do get nervous when I’m asked to perform on the spot but I turn the tables into an adrenaline rush.
I try perfecting every move, entertaining not just the audience but myself too. I also participate in as many competitions I can, try different forms, and sway to the tunes of various genres,” shares Anagha. When questioned about choreographing dance sequences for movies, she says, “My work partner and I brainstorm a lot before finalising the moves. Like direction, we write the script and screenplay for song sequences.”
Amid her twirling dreams, Anagha also dabbles in modelling. Known as ‘happy face’ to her social media followers, the bright-eyed, ever-joyful Anagha featured in Seemaatti ads. The multi-talented woman acted in the Malayalam movie, Cuban Colony. Despite her innumerable talents, Anagha prefers to be known as an artiste. Probably because the name in itself entails everything that she is capable of. Currently working on her next movie, Anagha adds, “Be open to experiences and opportunities. You never know where it could lead you.” Clearly, she practices what she preaches.