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...

The book Moving Bodies, Navigating Conflict: Practicing Bharata Natyam in Colombo, Sri Lanka  published by Wesleyan University Press in 2020 details the complex location and representation of Bharata Natyam, a classical dance form accepted to have emerged from the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The author, Ahalya Satkunaratnam is a professor of arts and humanities at Quest University Canada and a Bharata Natyam exponent with a diverse, multinational upbringing that is reflected in her approach to research and academia. Added to the lens of the postcolonial feminist scholar, this study on the practice of Bharata Natyam in Colombo, Sri Lanka is ground-breaking. She has researched and described in the most poetic, academic language, the intricacies that can be read into the practice of Bharata Natyam. What has made it even more fascinating, is that this foregrounds the civil war of Sri Lanka and the heightened religious and ethnic wars that have plagued the country. Satkunaratnam e...

This edited article shares the journey of Malaysian dancers not of Indian ethnicity or Hindu faith who completed their Arangetram which is a solo debut performance that announces the presentation of the trained Bharatanatyam dancer on stage to the public. In Malaysia, dance is often viewed as the performative symbol of ethnic identity, and national unity, or as a tourist attraction. This is showcased at all government-sponsored platforms including global summits, sports spectacles, and state banquets. Against this social and cultural landscape in Malaysia, this article focuses on and highlights how the practice of Bharatanatyam by non-Indian, non-Hindu dancers trained at ASWARA, blurs boundaries of race and religion in embodied ways. Norbaizura Abd Ghani, Mohd Yunus Ismail, Mohammad Khairi Mokthar, Imran Syafiq Mohd Affandi, and Fatin Nadhirah Rahmat who are Malay Muslims; four Chinese namely Elaine Ng Xinying, a Roman Catholic, Kimberly Yap Choy Hoong, a Protestant Christian, Madeline...

As I drive along each morning, from the vantage point of the Old Klang Road, and I must admit a little perilously, I inevitably look out for the progress of a new building along the filthy waters of the Klang River. Standing majestic, slowly clawing its way towards the skyline is a brick-red building that will stand no more than 5 floors high (and a roof terrace) but speaks louder to me (perhaps I am being simple, narrow-minded even) than all of Kuala Lumpur’s sky-scrapers! This building is the new physical realization of the heart and soul of a community with a dream. I remember, for the longest time, that every show I attended was in benefit of this proposed building - this is still on-going! It seemed like it was taking forever to even get off the ground. I must admit that there were times when, like all doubting Thomases, I too, doubted it would ever get built. In the past few years, as my relationship with members of this community has become more profound, and my role as a...