Her dance journey

Singapore's bharatanatyam danseuse Aarti Chidambaram is presenting Ritu Bhava on the evening of May 31 at GIIS Auditorium, Balestier campus, along with her students. She speaks to tabla! about her dance journey and the show.

On her dance lineage and background

I am lucky to have been able to learn bharatanatyam continuously for over two decades since the age of five. And also get the opportunity to imbibe the best from three of the best-known bharatanatyam styles in India.

After debuting in the Dandayudhapani Pillai Bani under Guru Kalyani Shekhar (niece and direct disciple of Padma Shri K.N. Dandayudhapani Pillai), I had the privilege of being trained for several years by noted danseuse Guru Kanaka Srinivasan, the foremost exponent of the Vazhavoor school and a direct disciple of Vazhavoor Sri Ramaiah Pillai.

I was also fortunate to learn from celebrity-dancer Padma Bhushan Yamini Krishnamurthy. And then pick up the finer points of the kalakshetra style from Guru V. Krishnamoorthy.

On the dance journey since

With my gurus' blessings, I became the youngest dancer at 11 to represent India at a classical dance festival in Barcelona, Spain, and bag the prestigious CCRT dance scholarship of the government of India. Since then I've had a number of performances to my credit in India and overseas.

In 1997, I performed in Singapore as a part of Guru Kanaka Srinivasan's troupe to mark 50 years of India's independence sponsored by the government of India in South-east Asian countries. Indeed, I have very fond memories of the Singapore audience's appreciation of our performance then.

Having been blessed to be part of the rich, centuries-old Indian heritage, I feel it's incumbent on me to actively help preserve it for posterity by making it available to the next generation.

It is in this spirit that I teach dance to my students at Bharata Kalalalaya and GICC, Queenstown. That is why nine of my young students are also getting an opportunity to be a part of a big dance production like Ritu Bhava.

Why Ritu Bhava?

I wanted to do a signature thematic presentation which has a special appeal for the Singapore Indian audience. Long-term resident Indians in Singapore often yearn for the pageantry of India's distinct seasons.

For them Ritu Bhava's presentation of select verses from Mahakavi Kalidasa's celebrated Ritusamhara with its unsurpassed lyrical beauty, I feel, would be something to look forward to.

Interestingly, the Sanskrit word "samhara" at a deeper level denotes "resolution", in line with the deep-rooted ancient Vedic wisdom that everything, including the seasons, is but part of Isvara - the Divine Order.

Connecting the dots through appropriate classical Carnatic music and bharatanatyam became an enjoyable collaboration for me with

India's acclaimed dance vocalist and composer Sudha Raghuraman, with valuable input from Lakshmi Krishnan of Temple of Fine Arts.

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