I’ve by no means recognized a model of myself with out dance. I used to be born and raised within the immersive surroundings of a dance college for bharatanatyam (a type of Indian classical dance) that my dad and mom based in Los Angeles earlier than I used to be born. My mom, Viji Prakash, was my first dance trainer, a passionate performer, and my inspiration.
Since I can keep in mind, the world of dance has felt magical and crammed me with wonderment. Whereas the music and rhythm encourage me to maneuver, it’s the tales that breathe life. From childhood, the colourful physique of fable that surrounds bharatanatyam was the lens by which I made sense of the world round me. Inhabiting varied characters allowed me to know relationships and totally different views that existed past my very own expertise.
Rising up within the U.S. whereas practising a kind that has cultural roots in India formed my artistic voice—it was born out of a way of duality and rigidity. For thus lengthy, I wished my audiences to really feel the humanity of the tales that I may so simply relate to, to not see them as “international” simply because they belonged to the Indian tradition. Over time, I’ve realized that it’s my very own questions on these tales, and the best way these questions mirror the stress between our values as people and a society, that permit my voice to really feel accessible, past the cultural specificity of my artwork kind.
My artistic impulses are pushed by experiences—private, social, political, non secular. I’m impressed by music, poetry, and different artists whom I love. I’ve been significantly impacted by my mentors and dancer/choreographers Malavika Sarukkai and Akram Khan, and musician T.M. Krishna. They’ve used their Indian classical coaching to pave paths which might be uniquely their very own. They encourage me to search out conviction in my very own voice whereas continuously difficult myself: to search out inspiration within the search as a lot because the discoveries.
Over three and a half a long time of coaching and performing, if there’s one factor that dance has continuously demanded of me, it’s give up. It doesn’t at all times occur. There may be self-doubt, a physique that comes with limitations, a thoughts that’s managing so many issues without delay. However the striving for that singularity of focus is the give up. And dance calls for that of you, to push previous every little thing to leap into the unknown and provides of your self wholly. In the end, that have of give up is why I dance.
