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Divine glory

Bharatanatyam exponent Charulatha Jayaraman enjoys her temple performances most

GRACEFUL MOVEMENTS Dancing to the heavenly tunes PHOTO: M. Moorthy

Hardly can one give a go-by to the Tiruchi ethos when one meets dancer Charulatha Jayaraman.

"Many ask me why I opted to stay put in Tiruchi as a dancer. I just smile that away for this is the city that has made me what I am," she says.

A student of St. Joseph's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School and Shrimati Indira Gandhi College, she has endeared herself to the Tiruchi audience through her performances in temples and sabhas here.

The Kalaimamani title earned her more attention and affection. A Masters in Information Technology, she preferred dance to computers. "Dance is my first and only love. I do like computers and I design my brochures and have put up my website too, but somehow my passion for Bharathanayam surpasses everything else," Charulatha confesses.

To name a few, her country-wide performances include the National Festival of Music and Dance held at Agartala, Konark Music and Dance Festival, Bhart Utsavs held at Sikkim and Kolkata, the Surya Festival at Thiruvananthapuram, Sangeeth Samaroh at the Sankat Moksha Hanuman Mandir at Varanasi, Natyanjali festival at Chidambaram.

Modest

For a dancer, who has given over 300 performances in her career, she is surprisingly modest to admit that she is still a learner. "Dance is like a huge ocean. You keep evolving all your life," she says. However, the performances closest to her heart are the ones at Agartala and Sri Lanka. "At 18, I was the youngest to take part in the festival held at Agartala. And the trip to Sri Lanka was special for it was my first performance abroad. We performed a number called `Shakthi' there as the performance was during the Navrathri," she shares. The programme at Sri Lanka was organised by the ministry of Hindu Religious and Cultural affairs of the country.

She follows the Pandanallur tradition of dance and even teaches a class of 45 students who are getting trained at her dance school `Shrishti' in Srinivasa Nagar. "Few years ago I took over the school from my teachers. Students between six and 25 years come to learn dance," she says.Talking about her projects, Charulatha says, "So far I have been focusing only on solo performances. But now I want to concentrate on team performances and thematic programmes - like some mythological topic or otherwise."

Among her favourites are classical dancers Priyadarshini Govind and Vaijayanthimala Bali. "Vaijayanthi is a dancer whom I've always adored andtried to emulate," she admits.When it comes to spirituality, she is quick with her bit of advice for the younger generation. "I feel it's important for the youngsters today to learn a spiritual art form such as dance apart from their academics. It's a myth that students don't fair well in studies if they concentrate on dance or any other hobby." Her spirituality is her work but she confides that she feels aspecial joy during temple performances.

PRATHIBHA PARAMESWARAN

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