JOIN USYoung bharathanatyam dancer Arun Sreenivasan feels that dance became a part of him before he even knew it. “Everyone in my family has been inclined towards art. My parents got me enrolled in a dance class when I was four and that’s when I took my baby steps into this magical field,” says the 24-year-old who was awarded the Ministry of Culture Scholarship by the Central Government in 2014.
A Bachelor in Life Sciences, Arun decided to plunge into dance full-time after that and pursued his Masters in Dance. He recently finished an MPhil in Dance from Jain University and has now started working on his PhD in the same. “I got a chance to receive training from bharathanatyam exponent Gayatri Keshavan for 14 years and completed my ‘arangetram’ two years back. Now I am practising dance under exponent Sathyanarayana Raju and aesthetician Dr Shobha Shashikumar. It has been a rather enriching experience,” he shares.
As an active participant in dance competitions at the school and college level, Arun won the ‘best director-choreographer’ award at National Group of Institutions in 2011. He has now evolved into a professional dancer who has won laurels for his vibrant performances at many national and international level dance festivals, both as a part of a troupe as well as solo. He has received applause many a times at the ‘International Dance Day’ festival that takes place in the City every year and is also a graded artiste with Doordarshan and ICE TV Bengaluru.
But what’s commendable is that the talented individual has been teaching the dance form at two centres in the City. He mentors underprivileged children at Sharadashrama Trust in Electronic City and trains other students at Sadhana Cultural Foundation in Rajarajeshwari Nagar.
So how does he maintain focus and take care of his fitness? “Well, I do basic stretches and exercises at home everyday. I also make it a point to jog for about an hour and cycle to and from dance classes. That keeps me fit and motivated,” he says adding, “Raju Sir has instilled a certain sense of discipline towards the art in me. It is compulsory for every student to practice the basic steps daily in his class and the seniors also have to practice the other dance pieces called ‘margam’. I devote time to dance at home as well. Besides, I am learning the ‘karanas’ of natya shastra (ancient movements of dramaturgy) from Dr Shobha.” Arun remarks that he finds no difference between theory and practice for he implements the learning of one in the other.
He is currently also studying percussion instruments, aesthetics and dramaturgy (study of dance, music and theatre as a whole). The lad is formally trained in Carnatic music under Geetha Srinidhi and is a veena player too.
Dance is something Arun finds truly wonderful and fulfilling. He wants to understand the realm of dance in his unique way as he says, “I want to be my own dancer and possess the ability to make and learn from my own mistakes.”