It may sound a tad strange for a bharatanatyam dancer but Shanthini Arunagiri has never given a stage performance. Neither did she get an opportunity nor did she nurture ambitions to perform publicly. But she has emerged as the city’s best known Bharatanatyam teacher, who has presented 45 of her students in their arangetram and trained 3,000 plus students so far.
Ever since her father enrolled her in Bharatanatyam classes under guru Ranganayaki Jayaraman at the age of seven, she found her passion. Shanthini says she did her post-graduation in Music to understand dance better. “Dance is a great way to stay connected with your heritage, your physical fitness and mental peace and for fun,” she says.
She draws her imaginative choreography and enriches the Pandanallur style from her treasure trove of training under Kalarani Ramachandran and Neela Krishnamurthi. She says she learnt two Thillanas and two Varnams from her gurus but with her experience over the years and innovative fusions, she teaches up to 30 Varnams and Thillanas each to her students.
Even though her flair in footwork and movements, her strict postures and expressions were all well acknowledged from her childhood, Shanthini never got a role to play on stage. And so she decided to start her own dance school in the summer of 1985 to teach as many children possible and give each of them a chance to come on stage. Despite difficulties, she stages an annual show every year and also ensures that her students participate in different competitions. That they return winners is another story. Her students have also been performing for the past 15 years in the Meenakshi Temple during navaratri celebrations, at the Tallakulam Temple during Purattasi and also participated in temple festivals at Tirupati, Thanjavur and the Padmanabhaswamy Temple.
When her son was still in the cradle, Shanthini launched the Madurai Natya Kalalaya with two students and has never looked back. Each year on Vijaya Dashami, she kept adding to her class strength with no publicity at all. The 52-year-old lives for her dance and her students love her unconditionally and respect her immensely.
“Not everybody comes to me to become a professional dancer,” says Shanthini, “but I tell them to continue to dance irrespective of the profession they join.” Many of her students who are now spread all over the world have become bureaucrats, advocates, doctors, engineers and architects. And many have followed her footsteps and opened their own dance schools in Chennai, Coimbatore, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Sweden and the U.S.
Shanthini’s teaching philosophy is that discipline and hard work can still be fun. Like her father, she too believes that every child can benefit from learning a classical art form, even if they never intend to become performers. It was her father who ensured that Shanthini along with her two sisters and five brothers receive training in performing arts. “All my brothers are trained in mrudangam but they all branched out to banking, law and catering. My two younger sisters teach Carnatic music and Veena,” she says.
“In my world I am a dancer and a dreamer,” says Shanthini and gives full credit to her family for allowing her to be herself. My tension-free life, she smiles, is made possible by my husband and son who let me immerse in Bharatanatyam and never complain about anything. Another person who has unflinchingly supported Shanthini is Ms.Premalatha Panneerselvam, the founder of Mahatma group of schools.
She was the one who encouraged Shanthini to teach dance to children and was among the first to send her daughter to her. Subsequently she hired her as the cultural coordinator in her school.
Shanthini feels she is blessed because even though she got married in first year of college, she never feared giving up her dream. She practically danced through her pregnancy, finished her post-graduation post-motherhood and has been successfully carrying on the twin jobs at Mahatma School and her own dance school without any glitches. She is the type who neither bothers nor reminds parents of paying up fees. Her ever-smiling face and pleasant demeanour make her popular with the parents too, many of whom join hands and work on various aspects to make the annual day programmes a success.
This year the Madurai Natya Kalalaya has added another feather. It has been qualified by the Annamalai University as a centre for grade exams in Bharatanatyam.
“My only desire”, says Shanthini, “is to see all those who come to me to learn are happy, enjoy their lesson and grow in confidence, and the parents know their child is safe.”
Annual Day show
It is in this summer month of May, that some of Shanthini’s old students return and voluntarily help her to put up the annual day show. This year is special as it marks the 30th anniversary of Madurai Natya Kalalaya which now has 150 students and two branches in the city. As always one of her oldest students, Kokila who now teaches Bharatanatyam in Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan in Chennai, has shown up to co-choreograph this year’s event themed “Ragas”. Also, Mrunalini and Kalidasa, who now teaches Bharatanatyam in Mahatma School, are her two other old students who never tire of supporting her year after year.
Tomorrow (May 8) is the big day for Shanthini’s students who will showcase their year’s learning in a three hour programme at Raja Muthiah Mandram. A fusion of traditional and film songs based on 20 select ragas will test their depth in nritta and abhinaya. For the past fortnight, Shanthini has been rehearsing with the girls from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. From five-year-olds to sprightly teens and adult beginners, batch after batch of girls have been walking-in and out practicing their parts with an excitement and sincerity.
Though it is a picnic like informal atmosphere, every student understands their guru’s perfect sense of pedagogy and adheres to the exact standards of tala, bhava and stamina. The children thoroughly enjoy the classes as Shanthini manages to create a loving and caring environment in her class that is mix of different age groups, caste and economic strata.
(Making a difference is a fortnightly column about ordinary people and events that leave an extraordinary impact on us. E-mail soma.basu@thehindu.co.in to tell her about someone you know who is making a difference)
