Her energy levels give you a complex. After landing from US the previous night, a long day’s rehearsal and a drive to our office has not tired the 26-year-old dancer. As she speaks her large eyes come alive with expressions and gestures accompany her every sentence. Meet Vasudha Anil Kumar Sharma, who is in Bengaluru for her solo Bharatanatya recital.
Born in Mumbai and brought up in Bengaluru, Vasudha was exposed to classical music and dance at a young age. She started learning dance at seven from the Kirans and later from Minal Prabhu. She gives credit to her teacher Minal. “She honed my skills as an artiste and taught me the finer nuances of the dance form.” She also thanks her mother, Mythily, who has been her “strength and her financier” to help her “grow not just as a lawyer but also as a dancer”.
Vasudha currently works in a law firm in New York and says it is important for artistes to also pursue their education as “that gives them financial security. Dance helped me go through school. It did not distract me, but helped focus on the long hours of studies. In fact, I feel every parent should encourage their child to take up some form of performing arts as it is a fantastic stress buster,” says Vasudha, who continued to “perfectly balance dance and education. The only thing that disappointed my parents is that I took up law and not science. My father was a physicist and mother is a scientist,” laughs the dancer, who soon applied for a Masters in the US, ending up living and working there.
In the US she dances with the Alokam Dance Company, “We put up purely classical ensembles. Initially, I did have the jitters performing in front of an international audience, but realised once they are given a proper prelude to the programme with explanations about the gestures and the story, they do understand our dance form and are appreciative.”
Ask her what brings her back to Bengaluru and she replies, “It has been my dream to give a solo in Bengaluru. It has been fours years since my last solo here. Now I feel the time is right as it is 20 years since I started dancing,” says Vasudha.
She will perform to live music and is thrilled that singer Balasubramanya Sharma and her veena teacher Geeta Navale are also a part of her performance.
“Performing in front of an informed audience is also a challenge. For me, my dance is more about my union with the divine and that is what I will present here.
“The only change will be in the introduction before a piece as the audience here is well informed about the form. But the content will remain the same whichever side of the Atlantic I am dancing.”
Vasudha’s dance recital is on June 15 at 6.30 pm at Seva Sadan and is open to all.
