Our interviewee for this article is Shalini Varghese, a teacher at the Arathi School of Dance.
This is not the usual type of school that we interview since they do not teach ballet, tap, jazz, etc. They teach a style of dance that is more of a traditional dance of a spiritual and/or cultural nature. Their dance studio aims to create a space where students can shed their inhibitions in order to learn new techniques and rediscover their own spiritual connection to the divine through the art of bharatanatyam.
Bharatanatyam (pronounced ba-rata-na-tiam) is a classical dance style from South India performed by both men and women. It is called the “fifth veda,” and is widely considered to be the oldest dance form in India. It is one of the most highly refined developed systems of dance, and is recorded as far back as the 9th century, although it was known as Sadir until the early 1900’s.
The dance itself is largely a storytelling dance. Most of the stories are from the epics and Hindu mythology. The intimate association with Hindu religion from its origins as a temple dance has been preserved through the centuries.
The dancer uses poses, facial expressions, and hand movements to communicate the story to the audience. Like fresco painting in Christian churches, the original purpose of Bharatanatyam was to educate the public about the scriptures. Because of its intricacy and specificity, Bharatanatyam could be used to tell any story in any language.
According to Shalini, their dance studio spends a great deal of time and energy in trying to connect the past and their traditions with the present and the future through their ancient dance form.
Shalini said there are many moments every week that make her proud of her students, which makes it hard to pick just one example. One special memory of her pride that comes to her mind is the first time one of her students who was doing her arangetram, or solo graduation dance recital, called Shalini in happy tears after being at the park. The student had a spiritual awakening and finally understood a movement they were working on to show the movement of leaves in the breeze. Shalini had talked to her about trying to keep her heart and mind open so that the dance could flow through her. The student performed the piece beautifully and Shalini was so happy to share that experience with her!
Shalini believes that one of the biggest mistakes dancers make is getting so bogged down in all the technical details that they lose sight of the true purpose of dance – which is allowing energy to flow. She thinks the performances that take your breath away or the ones that make you think more occur when the performer completely immerses themselves in their art without any other desires. Of course, strong technique and thoughtful practice will aid in getting students to the point where they can “let go.”
Her goal this year for her students is to have them perform more and start to build up their self-confidence. She would love for the parents and students to band together with school pride and pride for their ancient dance form, bharatanatyam. I’d like for the students to feel a sense of purpose and develop their own spiritual connection to the Divine through dance.
Arathi School of Dance was started by Shalini’s guru, Revathi Satyu, in 1980. Since then, she has been a pioneer in bringing Bharatanatyam to Texas and sharing the art form with the community. Shalini started learning from the Arathi School of Dance, and thus it has become her home. It was only natural that she continue to help grow the school that fostered her growth and passion for this art form under the guidance and love of Revathi Satyu!
In order to accommodate their growing population, they now have five different studios in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. They have graduated over 150 students with many more in line in the next few years. Some of their graduates and a few of their teachers have even started a performance group called Indique Dance Company, which performs regularly in the Dallas area and has been invited to various cities and counties. They are really looking forward to August of 2015 when they will be celebrating 35 years of the Arathi School of Dance with a weekend celebration of all things bharatanatyam!
Please post a comment if you have had any experience with Arathi School of Dance or Shalini Varghese.
For more information on the Arathi School of Dance, check out their website at http://www.arathidancedallas.com or check them out on Facebook.
