YOUNG ACHIEVER
Dancing perfectly to the tune of her heart
- Photo: K. Ananthan
Kavitha Gopalakrishnan
THESE ARE times when college students are trying to acquire more than one degree at a time to become better equipped to face the job market. There are very few who take time off to indulge in learning music, dance, or any other art form. Most prefer to utilise their free time learning a computer course or soft skills.
As a refreshing change comes Kavitha Gopalakrishnan. She is not only a dance student, but also a dance instructor. She handles all these alongside her final year degree course in Commerce. A student of G.R. Damodaran College of Arts and Science, Kavitha is both a classical and western dancer.
Eldest of two siblings, she hails from a family of music and dance lovers. Though her initiation was in Bharatnatyam, she has been into professional western dancing since the past six years. A student of the Pinto's Dance Academy, Kavitha is into all forms of western dance.
Having trained under Maya Shyamsundar for Bharatnatyam, she has performed twice at the Natyanjali at Perur and received awards from the Rotary Club.
When her dance guru left for Chennai, Kavitha decided to experiment in western dance. Since then she has not looked back. She takes pride in calling herself a "western dancer". She attributes her success to her instructor and founder of her dance academy, Ronald Pinto.
"The term "western" sends wrong signals to many people. It is not so. In our academy, we are disciplined in our learning. We do not go to the academy to have fun. We are into professional dancing. We are also taught to organize, manage time and be disciplined, things that have helped all of us and especially me in a personal way," says Kavitha.
The Academy has staged shows in and out of Coimbatore, mainly for charity and social causes and sometimes for entertainment. "We do not perform in front of all and sundry," says Kavitha. The "Dance Mania for handicapped" which the academy organises is a great hit in Coimbatore. Some of the other shows in which Kavitha has performed are, the Pepsi show, the Doctors' Conference at Ooty, at Families for Children, Podanur.
She takes pride in the fact that for the Dance Mania, in addition to her own performance, Kavitha along with her other group members train physically handicapped children to perform on stage. This interest of hers has led her to become an instructor in her academy.
Says Kavitha, "Pinto believes in his students. Instead of hiring external instructors he uses his senior students to teach the younger ones". She is one of the instructors who teaches a batch of kids aged between three-and-a-half to eight years. She gets paid for her services just like any other professional instructor.
She has not stopped learning herself. She believes that there is no end to dancing. Planning to pursue her higher education in Business Management in Chennai or Bangalore, she wants to take her dancing too to a higher plane. "I plan to pursue my Bharatnatyam as well as continue my academy's work in whichever place I decide to continue my higher studies," she adds.
The dancer does not lag behind in her studies. She makes a best effort to keep ahead in her academics too. She has bagged the Best Class Topper award in her first year of college. She was also the best student in her second year.
Referring to the many criticisms and sniggers she has encountered from people for pursuing the western form of dance, Kavitha says, "If you can balance your life, then you should go ahead and listen to your heart. It does not matter whether you are a girl or a boy. Many have asked me how far I will go in this line. But I have been selfish in my pursuits. Since I have maintained a good balance between my studies and dance, I have not given my parents a chance to complain."
She owes her success to her parents who have been with her throughout.
She is also thankful to her college for its support. "It is not only the dance, but also the teaching that interests me. I consider the opportunity to teach young students a great honour," she adds as an icing to the cake.
AMUTHA KANNAN
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Karnataka
Chennai
Coimbatore
Hyderabad
Madurai
Tiruchirapalli
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
