When grace becomes her

Navia Natarajan was two and half years old when she ambled into a classical dancer’s teaching studio, demanding to be taught how to dance. Instead of teaching the complicated tenets of a classical dance form to someone who could barely walk, the teacher decided to teach the little child folk routines. Today, not only is this Bengaluru girl a ‘Kala Rathna’ of a Bharatanatyam exponent, she is also, in a leap of surprises, a microbiologist with a masters degree!

A resident of California, Navia comes to her home in Bengaluru for three months every year, to seep in the wealth of culture that eludes her dance in the US. She says, “I was born in Kochi, grew up for a bit in Chennai, then a little bit more in several small towns before coming to Bengaluru. While I was studying microbiology at the Vittal Mallaya Scientific Research Institute here, my hobby bloomed into a passion. I got married, went to the US and while giving interview after interview in my field of study, I realised that this is not my calling and decided to take up Bharatanatyam,” says the woman who is now in the city to perform in several back to back shows.

A recipient of the prestigious ‘Yuva Kala Bharathi 2011’ Award, the ‘Sanatan Nritya Puraskar 2010,’ the Department of Culture Scholarship among many others, Navia roams the world with her dance, and her travels always bring her back to Bengaluru. “Tradition and the contemporary have a beautiful way of coming together in this city. When I am here, I spend the mornings with yoga, sessions with my mentors, dabbling in my choreography and then reading on the thoughts behind my art. My evenings, however, are spent with my friends and family. I often go out to watch shows with them,” Navia says.

In spite of a busy life stretched across two continents, Navia finds the time to teach Bharatanatyam to young enthusiasts in California. “While my regular students are mostly children of immigrants, in my workshops across the globe, I have students from all ethnicities. They are usually really excited to be learning such an ancient art. I also do workshops all over India when I am here and have one in Rajasthan, followed by a tour of Kerala, this time. By the end of January, I am usually back to my life of daily chores in the US,” laughs the dancer.