'I am who I am because of dance'

With her innate sense of rhythm and vibrant expressions, bharatanatyam dancer Navia Natarajan has made her presence felt in the world of classical dance. In fact her passion for the arts is so much that despite staying abroad, she comes back to Bengaluru every year for a few months to perform and converse with her mentors.

Navia’s passion for dance started when she was all of three. “I saw my neighbour’s children learning the dance form. Though I couldn’t understand it back then, I was intrigued by the rhythm. Soon, I did some folk numbers on stage. But my interest in classical dance remained. I finally started to learn the form when I was seven years old and did my ‘arangetram’ when I was ten,” narrates Navia about her journey.

She didn’t have stage fear and took to dance like a fish takes to water. “I had to balance studies and dance as a student and always thought of dance as a hobby. It was during my career as a research scientist in the US that my passion for it became stronger, and I realised that this was what I wanted to do,” says Navia. She says that dance became her “good companion” and she felt nice, dwelling deep into the form. “I have a big bond with dance now. I seek life through dance. I am who I am because of dance,” she says.

The dancer sticks to ‘margam’, which is the entire repertoire of the form. “This includes both facial expressions and rhythmic body movements. But I have always loved ‘abhinaya’ more and feel it is more challenging,” she says.

Navia says that she works on new pieces when she is in the US, and when she comes down to India, she shows them to her mentors.

 “I don’t work on pieces just for the sake of it. I have worked on small pieces, which includes a piece called ‘Agni’, which is my interpretation of fire. I also worked on a piece based on ‘Karna’ called ‘The Quest Unsaid’,” she notes.

Today, Navia is a dancer in the Vazhavoor tradition of bharatanatyam and teaches in her own small studio. She has been enthralling audiences in the United States and the Middle East. “Dance is received well by the American audience though they might not understand the minute details. I’m excited about performing in Europe soon as I have heard that they have a well-informed audience with a passion for ‘shringara’,” she says.

Navia agrees that Bengaluru has a growing contemporary dance scene. “Art has to evolve. It can’t be stagnant. The techniques of contemporary dance are different and there is variety. But classical dances have survived for really long and will stay on,” she wraps up with a smile.