I climbed on the stage for the first time when I was 4 to recite a Sanskrit verse. And from then on, my journey with performing art started. I started learning Bharata Natyam when I was 8. This art fascinated me so much that I decided to take it further. I did my graduation and post graduation from Nalanda Nritya Kala Mahavidyalaya founded by Dr. Kanak Rele.
At the same time, due to my interest in performing art, I was attracted to Marathi Experimental Theater. I joined a theater group, Awishkar, where I learned all other aspects of this art. I had a chance to try light and set design, backstage, and also could observe legends of theater like Pt. Satyadev Dubey, Sulabha Deshpande, Chetan Datar and work with them in some productions.
My journey took a turn and took me to another state of India after I got married. I worked in Bengaluru as dance therapist for gifted children, as a dance teacher in Delhi public School and also at Structural School of Fine Arts. Here, I designed an advanced diploma for the senior students. This gave me a chance to build a relationship with several students who happily included me in their lives.
After moving to US, I got a chance to work at Sunnyvale Community Center. I taught Bharata Natyam to multicultural students and enjoyed every bit of it. The conclusive performance was based on movements and gaits of animals set to music.
I also enjoyed working at Stanford university’s Classical dance group- Noopur’. Here I was working with trained dancers and I decided to take them further on a journey to Choreograph. It was 9 months workshop (yes, I was expecting my baby at the same time) with a final performance choreographed by all of us together. The theme was a poem by a Marathi poet, V. V. Shirwadkar, and had a story of the planets trying to pursue Earth which was a protagonist.
After a long break, I performed and took couple of workshops at California State University East Bay. This was a fantastic experience as the students were rarely aware of Indian Classical Dance.
Currently, I am pursuing certification in Yoga and it has been a huge impact on my dance. My approach towards movements has completely transformed due to knowledge of motion of muscles and its spiritual purpose.