It was 1985, when Bangalore’s major tryst with affluence began. Texas Instruments opened and IT found its breeding ground. At the same, the agrestic by-lanes of Yeshwantpur were finding their tracts of excellence. Shanthala Arts Academy had a humble beginning and today, after 27 years, is considered one of the premier institutions in Karnataka.
A brainchild of Natya Vidwan Prasanna Kasthuri and his father, late Vidwan Raghusutha, what makes the academy and the founder stand out is the fact that it fuelled the passion for dance in the whole family. “My father was a history geek and a geography lecturer fascinated by the achievements of the Hoysala dynasty and their contribution to art. When I expressed my wish to start a dance school, he was game. We decided on the name Shanthala because she is the embodiment of dance in Karnataka,” says Prasanna.
Prasanna, who studied engineering and started the dance school in his house, had a strong belief in mythology which according to him is the basic infrastructure of dance. “I wanted to spread Bharatanatyam and other classical forms. Of course, I had to become an engineer to fulfill my parents’ wish since those day it was not considered to be a remunerative occupation like today, when it has become a passionate profession,” says Prasanna.
Influencing family
Prasanna’s influenced his brother Pulikeshi Kasthuri and sister Sushma. “Pulikeshi took the first step and later Sushma danced in. Today, Puli is a scintillating nattuvangist with a magical voice. He is also a devoted organiser and a loving teacher,” says Prasanna.
Active spread
The academy organises dance festivals, trains students in Bharatanatyam, Carnatic music and Nattuvangam, and has even produced dance dramas with award-winning music directors. The academy has performed all over the country, participating in national and state-level dance festivals and putting up shows in corporate houses, schools, colleges, temples and cultural festivals. “We started with 15 members and we were the first ones to take our dance to rural areas. We also instituted the Shanthala Awards. Later, the government of Karnataka created a similar award for performing arts,” says Pulikeshi.
In States
After establishing Shanthala, Prasanna wanted to take the art form abroad. He got the chance when he headed to the US for a masters degree.
“Once I got my Green card, I started my dance school in
St Louis in 2002. It was called Soorya Performing Arts,” says Prasanna.
Sister & wife
Sushma had taken up dance seriously and she, too, took up the responsibility of spreading Soorya Performing Arts to other parts of the US.
“Sushma is trained by me and gurus like Ranjani Ganesan and the Dhananjayans of Chennai. In Kathak, she is trained by gurus, Maya Rao and Chitra Venugopal. She has choreographed numerous dance productions like Mira, Yathiraja Vaibhava and Dashavataara. She has even researched on the 18th century court poet Mysore Sadashivaraya, who produced Apoorva Sadashiva. She now runs Soorya in Los Angeles where she teaches Bharatanatyam, Carnatic music and nattuvangam,” says Prasanna who admits the craze for Indian performing arts in the US is amazing.
Prasanna’s wife Seema Kasthuri is also a dancer and a music teacher at Soorya Performing Arts. “We are a team of 10 board members and two of them are non-Indians. Seema has been singing at all the dance performances directed under Soorya and also performs at times,” says Prasanna.
Satisfied life
Prasanna admits that there are many ups and downs in being a dance teacher.
“I see my friends making crores of rupees and building mansions. But I feel good when I see my beautiful house of art. Each time I do a programme, I face a lot of challenges in time and money management. But you tend to forget these things, once you start performing in front of an audience. The happiness, when people block their calendar for our show, cannot be measured,” he says.
Way forward
"Shanthala Academy has taught more than 2,000 students and even managed state and central government scholarships for five students in Bangalore,” says Pulikeshi.
Shanthala wants to now puttogether a place where dance will be taught, performed and researched.
