KOCHI: Not everyone can persist with their passion for a long time, especially when your career and other responsibilities pull you back. If you are a woman, then the challenge becomes even more harder. That has been the case with renowned dancer Reshma George. The current Tata Consultancy Service employee will be giving a dance recital after a gap of 13 years at the Changampuzha Park on September 7. She will be doing a performance on Lord Shiva called ‘Chidambara Naadam’.
The Kochi-based Reshma started pursuing her passion at the age of eight. Since then, she hadn’t skipped her practice sessions except for two years when her daughter, Nikita, was born. Despite this, she continued to train. “I think the sheer effort that you need to balance so many things makes you very organised and disciplined and that reflects in all your activities. I truly believe that one can achieve a work–dream balance, not just a work-life balance,” says Reshma, who won the Miss Kerala title in 2003.
She was lucky that her parents, George and Chithralekha were always there to support her. “I wouldn’t have achieved anything if my family was not there,” she says. “My mother always accompanied me for my dance classes since my childhood and sit patiently for two hours. As for my father, he encouraged me to push my limits.”
Although she managed to stick to a strict schedule, Reshma confesses that it wasn’t easy. “It’s very hard to balance so many things but slowly everything has fallen into place and each second of effort bring results. When we were staying in Bengaluru, I had to take four buses to reach the dance class. Later, after my office work, I had to rush back to be a home-maker,” she said.
Following her marriage, it is her husband Nivin and three-year-old Nikita who support her dream of restarting her dancing career. “Despite a busy schedule, Nivin helped me to manage my practice. The upcoming performance will be a culmination of those efforts,” says Reshma. As a professional, Reshma trained for six years under Shyamala Surendran, the founder of the Dharani School of Performing Arts, at Kochi, under whose guidance she did her ‘arangetram’ in the presence of bharatanatyam dancers Padma Bhushan V P Dhananjayan and Shanta Dhanajayan.
“Earlier, when I was in Bengaluru I began training with Chithra Dasarathy, daughter of Padma Bhushan bharatanatyam dancer C V Chandrasekhar and now in Kochi, I am with Deepa Rao S and Girija Raveendranath,” says Reshma. Though she received laurels throughout her life, she rates her two-hour long bharatanatyam performance at the Surya Festival, Thiruvananthapuram in 2004 as the most memorable moment in her career.