The Dance Pilgrim

Rasikas in Malaysia are undoubtedly familiar with the Temple of Fine Arts (TFA), an institution synonymous with Indian arts and culture. It was established in 1981 by the spiritual guru, Swami Shantanand Saraswati together with dance gurus, Master Gopal Shetty and Master V.K. Sivadas. My own association with TFA began in 1994 when I started work at the Akademi Seni Kebangsaan, known as ASWARA (Akademi Seni Budaya dan Warisan Kebangsaan since 2006). In 1998, when I was appointed the Dean of the School of Dance, I courted their services to deliver the bharatanatyam syllabus as a core course for the duration of the 3-year Diploma and the 3-year Bachelor program that began in 2008. However, it was only in 2025, while I was on a visit to India with Shankar Kandasamy and Umesh Shetty that I first heard of the name P. Suryakala or Suryakala Akka as she is fondly known, and learned how important she was to TFA, through the lineage of the great teacher Padmashri Guru K. N. Dandayuthapani Pill...

I borrow and paraphrase from Neil Armstrong, the words he uttered when he set foot on the moon on 20  July 1969, as 75 young men and women enrol for ASWARA’s first intake of degree program  students on the 6 January 2008. Of these, 18 will pursue a Bachelor of Dance with Honours majoring in either performance or choreography, and the rest in Music, Theatre, Film and Writing. It is a historic day for ASWARA (that began as ASK in 1994) in particular, and for the arts in Malaysia in general. It is even more historic as I remember the total enrolment of merely 10 full-time students 8 years ago in the Dance Diploma program that has now swelled to 80 - how we have grown! While there is a deep sense of awe and satisfaction with the journey thus far and the growing numbers, there comes with it a great sense of responsibility as I look ahead to the delivery of fresh content and subsequently to the finished products of these programs. I ponder the industry and wonder how education and p...

Fig. 1: With peers Wong Kit Yaw, Mohd Seth Hamzah in the opening of Menempa Tari Tradisi. 2022.   I am Dean of the Faculty of Dance at the National Academy of Arts, Culture and Heritage Malaysia, (Akademi Seni Budaya dan Warisan Kebangsaan) better known by its acronym of ASWARA. Although I have done this work since 1998, it is still seems surreal because the journey has been completely  unexpected.  I never aspired to become a performer or choreographer or pursue a career in the field of performing arts although my involvement began incidentally at the age of 10 when my La Salle Primary School, Petaling Jaya (LSPJ) teacher, Celine Vincent organized end-of-the-year performances in the classroom. We had to draw, paint, practice elocution and create short skits that nurtured our creativity, collaborative and leadership skills. However, I suspect it was primarily designed to keep 40 boys occupied and out of mischief! This introduction to theatre  grew to become a large p...