Just Dance

A whiff of camphor hangs in the air, and as you the unique play of sunlight and shadows that fills a brightly filled room and a gentle breeze from an open terrace soothes you instantly. This is the creative abode of Bharatnatyam dancer Geeta Chandran in New Delhi’s Gulmohar Park. The huge room has a corner with seven lamps in various shapes and sizes hanging from the ceiling beneath which sits a metal Ganesha idol on a wooden stool. Also in a almost duplicate serene demeanour is the danseuse herself, draped in a cotton sari, she sits on a mattress in the centre of the hall, against a huge mirror, with a wooden stick and a rectangular wooden plate in her hand. “From an empty hall, it has evolved into this awe-inspiring space, where my soul rests. I have nurtured it like a baby and spend almost 15 to 16 hours here. Be it my early morning yoga, prayer, reading, rehearsals or small concerts, I use it for purposes,” says Chandran as she proudly looks around her space. Prior to this studio, Chandran had hired a space in artist Arpana Caur’s academy. “Carrying books and CDs everyday was becoming too much so I decided to turn the first floor of my house as my creative hub.”   

Chandran has been using this place for the past six years. The room also has two big bookshelves that hold a huge collection of literature on art, dance and discipline. The collapsible doors on one side of the hall open to a large balcony lined with potted plants. It is a well-lit space and despite the scorching Delhi heat outside, you can feel a breeze wafting through the room. “The cool draft is thanks to the huge Gulmohar tree that overlooks next to the balcony. The tree is very symbolic. I owe the name of my dance academy, Natya Vriksha (the dancing tree) to the same. It is house to almost ten parrots,” says Chandra.

The tidy well arranged space does look like it was put together with a lot of thought. But Chandra insists that she does not do up the room often, “I cannot guarantee adding an unusual artifact, I am content with the way it is at present,” she says.
The room also serves as Chandran’s dance school, and as we speak to Chandran, her students file into the room and get ready for their practice session. Chandran then strikes the wooden stick she has in her hands on a rectangular plate this is enough to get pin drop silence from the small group that has assembled. Then slowly with every stroke of the wooden stick the room starts resonating with the sound of feet tapping on the floor. Chandran watches over her students’ movements and smiles as they move in sync to the beats.