Ex-schoolmates Sushmitha Shrikanth and Karunya Srinivasan met each other again as most millennials do: on Instagram. “Karunya had put up a post of herself dancing, asking if anyone wanted to collaborate with her. And I had to reply! It was like I’d found my clone,” says the 22-year-old. Karunya, 23, on her part, ‘stalked’ Sushmita’s profile back, and saw that they indeed shared many common interests: most of all, the desire to explore their bodies through movement. The duo is now starting a weekend module centred around it.
While Sushmita’s class offers yoga, combined with High Intensity Interval Training, Karunya will be taking dance lessons. For six weekends, they will taking classes in rotation. Calling it a “buffet of movement options”, Karunya explains that “Even though our practices are different, our end goal is same: building a relationship with your body.”
Having trained in Bharatanatyam and Indian Contemporary, her class will be on exploratory movement, based on contemporary dance. “We will learn how to use the body as a whole through themes of balance, relief, support, and more. You will learn to befriend gravity, letting the floor support you,” she says.
She will also be discussing what she’s learning at her four-year course in the feldenkrais method from Switzerland. “Before this, I didn’t pay attention to the body’s natural inclination to move. In my previous years as a dancer, I would focus on just getting the steps, the choreography right. But now I see my body as a whole,” she explains.
Musical meditation
Meanwhile Sushmita, who is currently teaching yoga at IIT Madras, will blend HIIT into her yoga classes at this module. “So it’s like you’ll do sun salutations, and then do burpees,” says Sushmita, adding that there will be a special focus on breathwork and meditation. “All the poses we do, will be in a sequence, like we’re telling a story. And set to music — everything will be beats-driven,” she adds. After getting a sweat on, she will have the participants move on to yin yoga, one in which poses are held for a longer period of time, inducing relaxation.
Despite their young age, the duo isn’t worried about training people older to them. “Initially I hesitated, thinking I am no expert at it. But you have to start somewhere,” says Karunya. “And in fact, this is the space for adults to have fun. Exercising and moving doesn’t have to be a serious business. After a whole week of work, join us and act like children again!”
The Weekend Movement Module will be held on Saturdays and Sundays, from March 9 to April 14, 9.30 am to 11 am at Utopia. Price for the entire module is ₹4000, drop-ins are ₹350.
