A Visit to Kalamandalam

According to Hindu religion, the purpose of dance is to release our mind from the illusion of “self” and of the physical world. It is an artistic way to express and to relieve ourselves from the emotions that don't serve us. Some dance to express, some dance to impress, some do it to feed their souls, while some to feed their hunger. Some dance with their body, while some dance with their heart, some out of pain while some, out of joy. We may have different forms of it from different cultures all around the world, but all of them speak one language, the language of expression.

Dance has always played a major role in my life, it has helped me become the person I am today. It has helped me learn a few very important life lessons in disguise, the value of balance, self-awareness, self-confidence and self-faith. It's taught me the importance of practicing and becoming better and better each day, helped me know myself better, my weaknesses and my strengths and how to work on them.

Well, recently, got a chance to visit Kerala with my friends. As I always had a huge respect and love for all Indian classical dance forms, I visited "Kalamandalam"(University of Art and Culture by Government of India). Since it was a weekend, there were no classes going on, but

I got to capture a few foreign students, practicing some dance steps in an open classroom. They said they had a performance the next day at Trivandrum. After having a chat for a while, we discovered our mutual love for dance. It was so much fun to know them all. They said they were all professional dancers, back there, in their own countries and were here in India since a few years, just to learn these beautiful Indian classical dance forms. Two of them were learning 'Bharatnatyam' and one was learning 'Mohiniyattam'.

Getting to know these people was an experience in itself, it inspired me to the very core and made me respect my country and my culture even more.