“On the day of my performance, when I was supposed to be performing next to my guru Smt. Sandhya Raju, I had made up my mind. It is either go big or go home. It is either do my best or stop dancing forever. I became the avatar I was dancing as. And I think I definitely went big. That moment when my guru said, “Good job!”, it was the best moment in my 11 years of dance journey.
My family and I moved from Rajamundry to a slum area in Jubliee hills. There was an organisation called Women in Network where the volunteers used to come to slum areas and conduct educational programs for the kids. This organisation was connected with my guru and asked her if she can teach them dance and gymnastics. She agreed and conducted workshops for more than 100 students for 3 months straight. Amongst all the students, 4 were selected as scholarship students to learn and train under her. When I first went there I thought we were going to learn western dance. I was most definitely in for a surprise! The grace, the intricacies, the flow of the art form Kuchipudi piqued my interest and I was hooked! Every step was incredibly beautiful. I still remember my first performance. It was Birla Mandir with my fellow dance mates and you bet we were nervous! It was five of us on stage and the crowd was huge! We got jittery, made a couple of mistakes but thinking back to it, it still cracks me up! My guru always told us “As an artist, you must all grow individually.”. So that’s what I did. After my Rangapravesham in 2015, which might I add, was an overwhelming day of my life. The pride I saw in everyone’s eyes, the videos, the comments, the feedback, that I got from my guru, my friends and family and every one of those who watched me that day, including my mother who was so happy that she started to cry, still leaves me with a warm feeling in my heart. After my Rangapravesham, I started performing shows and eventually got paid for them too. Like every art form comes with its pros and cons, mine did too. It is definitely not a well-paying job especially when you have a family who depends on you for their daily bread and butter. So telling my family that I want to pursue dance as my career despite knowing the fact that I could easily get a settled government job was more than difficult. I remember bunking my MBA classes to go to taalam class. After a lot of convincing, I made it through. I remember being made fun of because I was a boy and Kuchipudi is considered as a woman’s dance. I broke their stereotypes, broke the shackles that held me back and here I am today.
The little boy who is now a proud man because of what he made of himself and happy that he chose to dance. I also take dance classes via video calls because I have students from across the world!
If not for my guru, I would never have made it to where I am. She has showered me with her knowledge and skill and I had the passion and drive to take it all. It is a process and there is still a lot to learn. Until then, it is dance and dance forever till your heart content!”
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