National honour for B’luru classical dancer

Bharatanatyam dancer Rukmini Vijayakumar has been recently conferred with the coveted Rashtreeya Kumar Gandharva Samman by the government of Madhya Pradesh.

“It’s my dance — years of commitment, experimentation, and expression ­— that must have led to this,” says the Bengaluru-based artiste, speaking about the honour, news of which she first received over email.

This national recognition means a lot to Rukmini, both as an artiste and an individual. She explains that sometimes artistes wonder if they are relevant because “we’re not deemed essential”. “But people always come back to art, don’t they? They watch films, they listen to music. Those moments sustain people. So this award feels like a happy affirmation,” she elaborates.

By her own admission, the ‘Radha Kalpa Method’, which she has developed, best describes her own process in understanding Bharatanatyam. It’s a systemised approach to “enhance alignment, progression, and emotional truth in dance”.

“It was a result of needing to become a better dancer myself. What started as intuition needed to be delineated (as a methodology) when I began teaching,” she explains.

Talking about the way forward for Bharatanatyam, Rukmini says innovation has to be grounded in discipline. “We need to keep questioning and exploring, but with sincerity,” she says.

She adds that dancers should stay open to learning from everyone around them, and always enjoy the process of dancing.