Vyshnavie Sainath might be all of 24 but the young danseuse has quite a few feathers in her hat already. Daughter of Bharatanatyam exponent Rajeshwari Sainath, Vyshnavie gave her very first performance at age 15 at the prestigious Krishna Gana Sabha in Chennai and also bagged the Rukmini Devi Memorial Endowment Prize for the same. Today, a noted Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Simhanandini and Kalaripayattu exponent, the youngster has also been successfully running her own dance school in the city for the last three years and according to her mother has a stronger following for her dance than she herself does.
The dancer, who doesn’t believe in limiting herself to just one form of dance or classical art forms, recently completed a six-week workshop in contemporary dance from the reputed Martha Graham School in New York. “It was a great experience to learn a different dance form, meet new people and learn a different style of approach towards dance,” says Vyshnavie, adding, “Some of the people I met there want to do their doctorates in dance. Also their style of approaching the art form was quite different from how I go about things. I tend to rush into things that might make me more susceptible to injuries while dancing. However, they take it slower and work on their inner muscles, which makes them stronger as well. It was an entirely new learning experience for me.”
In the past Vyshnavie has also travelled to places like Bhubaneshwar and Kerala to learn Odissi and Kalaripayattu from the best gurus in the country in the respective dance forms. What sets this young dancer apart from the rest is her willingness to innovate. She always comes up with a different concept to spellbind her audience with every performance – be it the successful ‘Nritya Panchakam’ that incorporated five styles of dances showcasing core techniques or ‘Shilpam’ that was based on ‘Pygmalion’, a Greek mythological character.
Born to a dancer mother and learning Bharatanatyam since the age of three, Vyshnavie decided to pursue a career in dance when she was only 14.
“I did have my share of people tell me that I should probably have a professional degree in hand as a back-up plan. But I knew dance was what I truly wanted to do,” says the dancer, who went on to get a double PG in HR and Dance.
“When I was pursuing my post graduation in HR I tried working with a corporate to see how I’d like it. But I realised it just wasn’t my cup of tea.”
Today Vyshnavie has her own dance school where she teaches Bharatanatyam and Kalaripayattu and has students across age groups come to her. If there’s a bubbly little four-year-old heading to her class there is also an enthusiastic 58-year-old keen to learn from her. In fact, at the programme her dance school is putting up in October to celebrate its third anniversary, there will be a 72-year-old woman performing as well. “She was very keen to perform and we’re planning a more abhinaya-based number for her. Teaching a young child and an elderly person are completely different ball games. When it comes to teaching older people it requires more patience,” she says.
