With all its chrome and glass, Technopark, at first sight, does not appear to be a place in step with classical arts, particularly classical dance forms such as Mohiniyattam and Bharatanatyam. We couldn’t be more wrong, it seems, according to techies – and there are tens of them – who are also keen classical dancers.
“Technopark is a place that encourages classical art forms. We get many stages to perform and showcase our talent, both within our own organisations and during pan-campus events,” says Parvathi Udayaraj Manikoth, a software developer, who is also trained in Bharatanatyam, Mohiniyattam and Kuchipudi.
Plenty of opportunities
“In the MNC that I work for, for example, we have annual days and other employee engagement events, where classical dance is always given a stage. For Women’s Day too I was given the opportunity to perform Bharatanatyam,” explains Parvathi. She has been training in classical dance since she was five years old. “I go home to Kozhikode every weekend to train and practice. I feel alive when I am dancing and I am always game to shake a leg on stage,” she adds.
The classical dance team of Quest Global
Neethu Joseph, a software engineer at Quest Global, gushes at the “myriad” opportunities to perform Bharatanatyam on stage on the campus. “There are a bunch of us colleagues who are classical dancers, numbering 10 or so, who regularly stage programmes for various company and Technopark events. If there is some major company event happening, most of the time, the company itself helps us out by hiring dance choreographers. We get together to practice during lunch hour or after work. Techie-run organisations like Natana and Prathidhwani also do a lot to promote the arts and regularly organise performances,” says the native of Wayanad, who learnt Bharatanatyam for eight years. “Dance is a kind of a stress buster for me,” she adds, echoing the thought of many of her fellow dancers.
Meera R Nair
“If you really want to, there’s really nothing stopping you for doing what you love to do. For me, it’s always been dance,” adds Meera R Nair, a software architect and mother of two, who took up Bharatanatyam again a couple of years ago, after a long gap. “There are also a lot of opportunities to perform outside campus as well, particularly for temple festivals in the vicinity, which many fellow techie dancers take part in enthusiastically,” she adds.
Software developer Amrutha Jayakumar, meanwhile, is into Kathak and Mohiniyattam. In the two years that she has been working on campus, she says she has also had plenty of chances to perform dance within the campus. In fact, she won a contest for her Kathak skills at a talent hunt organised by the MNC she works for.
Amrutha Jayakumar
Techie-dancers say Technopark has also got an informed audience when it comes to the arts. “The audience in Technopark have always been very receptive, whenever I have danced, particularly for Kathak with its fast spins and footwork, I feel,” says Amrutha.
HR executive and Bharatanatyam dancer Dileep C, one of the handful of male dancers on campus adds: “The cultural orientation in Technopark is rather good. While, the audience for classical dance might not be as big as say for a Thaikkudam Bridge concert, those who turn up are very aware of the dance forms, stay till the end and encourage and appreciate the performers and the performance. Also, such receptiveness may have to do with the fact that Thiruvananthapuram itself is a culturally vibrant space, with multiple venues and events that propagate classical dance.”
The stetting up of dance schools for ‘mature’ students in the Kazhakoottam locality, may also be indicative of the interest that techies have in classical dance and its popularity in Technopark.
