Transgender student's Bharatanatyam keeps audience spellbound at Kerala college event

When Thanvi Suresh stepped on to the stage, she scripted a new chapter in the history of Mahatma Gandhi University Youth Festival.
Thanvi Suresh performing Bharatanatyam in the transgender category
Thanvi Suresh performing Bharatanatyam in the transgender category

PATHANAMTHITTA: When Thanvi Suresh stepped on to the stage, she scripted a new chapter in the history of Mahatma Gandhi University Youth Festival. For the first time a transgender student performed bharatanatyam in the youth festival of the university in the transgender category.

“There were a lot of apprehensions about the approach of the audience when I registered my name for the bharatanatyam competition in the youth festival. I was worried about the response towards a transgender participant till I stepped on to the stage for my performance. But seeing the support of my audience from youths to elderly people, there was no boundary for my happiness. Yes, society, especially youths, are accepting us. We are one among them,” 26-year-old Thanvi Suresh told TNIE.

When the curtains went up for the performance of Thanvi, the audience welcomed her with great applause. The audience was silent and very attentive till her performance ended at Nedumudi Venu Nagar (Royal Auditorium), stage II of the youth festival. All the people enjoyed it well. “Seeing the applause of the audience, I became more confident and I could keep my full energy throughout the performance,” she said.

Thanvi is a first year BA Bharatanatyam student of RLV College of Music and Fine Arts Tripunithura. “I have been learning bharatanatyam since my childhood. I am a native of Tripunithura and was born and brought up in an ordinary family. My father is an autorickshaw driver and my mother Shyla is a homemaker. My parents have been giving full support to me since my childhood to achieve my goals. I have already undergone a major sex reassignment surgery. My ambition in life is to become a famous professional dancer,” she said.

“I am so happy that I could become the first participant in the transgender category in bharatanatyam competition of the youth festival. I was really surprised after seeing the approach of the audience. I have performed in front of my parents and I have received a lot of appreciation for my performance from my parents, teachers, friends, audience and mediapersons. There was also no limit to the happiness of my parents as they saw the great applause from my audience. Thank God,” she said. Thanvi was the only participant in the bharatanatayan competition in transgender category and she bagged first place with ‘A’ grade.

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