'A comeback is difficult'

Taking a sabbatical owing to marriage and her child, Mohiniattam dancer Gopika Varma found it difficult to make a comeback on the stage after 11 years. But it was in 2002 that Varma finally decided to return to the stage. “I had put on weight. The dance form had witnessed many changes as well. I realised a comeback after so long is going to be difficult,”she tells Metrolife.

But it was her hard work and the challenge to constantly “upgrade herself”that worked for Varma.

“I used to be very strict with regular workouts and training sessions,”recollects Varma.
Marked by grace and fluidity of movement, Varma feels Mohiniattam allows her to present her own “personal form of worship of the divine”.

“As I started my career with performing in temples, I felt that the soft rhythm of
Mohiniattam is apt for connecting with the divine. The dance form connects me to god every time I perform,”mentions Varma, who has danced extensively at various art festivals, sabhas and temples nationwide and internationally.

Initiated into the dance at the age of 10 by her grandmother, the Trivandrum-born was trained under mentor Kalyani Kuttyamma and continued under Girija and Chandrika Kurup. “I specialised under the guidance of guru Kuttyamma and her daughter, Sreedevi Rajan. I was also fortunate to learn abhinaya, which is the quintessence of Mohiniyattam, from Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair, the doyen of Kathakali dance,”she says.

Presently, Varma is running a Mohiniyattam Dance School — Dasyam at Adyar, Chennai, with a vision to promote and develop Mohiniattam outside Kerala. “If out of 8,000 youngsters even 100 want to take up this form of classical dance, I feel my job is done,”
says Varma.

Is there a dream that she still wants to fulfil? “I want everybody to identify
Mohiniattam and not be clueless about the dance form,” says the danseuse who has received ‘Kalai-mamani’ honour from Tamil Nadu Government and ‘Nritya Choodamani’ from Chennai’s Krishna Gana Sabha.

The artiste now looks forward to perform at ‘The Dances of Fire & Wind’ at HCL Concerts’ #TrueToOurRoots on August 10 at Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre.

“I perform on a new concept every time. This time, I will be performing on the different relationships of servitude through portraying Lord Krishna,”says Varma.