Troy student shares Indian culture through special art form
When Troy High School junior Sharanya Swaminathan was 4 years old, her mom would play nursery rhymes, and Sharanya would immediately start moving. Her mom took notice and put Sharanya in a group class to learn the classical Indian dance Bharatanatyam at Bharatiya Temple.
Sharanya took to it right way and soon transitioned to private lessons at Hindu Temple Rhythms, with guru Srimathi Sueha Chandrasekhar as her teacher. As she progressed through the years, Sharanya realized that Bharatanatyam dancing was more than just physical movement.
“This specific Tanjore style has been passed down from generations and through my dance teacher’s school, Sri Rajarajeshwari Bharata Natya Kala Mandir,” she says. “It’s really great that we’ve been able to keep that tradition to now, with this generation.
“That’s something that is really important to me, that we keep the traditions. I want to be able to pass that down to future generations to come, because that’s how we keep art alive.”
Sharanya studied Bharatanatyam for 12 years, and in 2018 she completed her dance graduation, called arangetram.
“It’s our solo dance tribute and it’s just me, and we have a live orchestra as I’m dancing. We prepared for a year, and yes, it was around five hours, but it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life,” she says.
The purpose of the arangetram is to show the progression of the dancer’s skills. It starts with the basics, such as head movements and hand gestures, and gradually transitions into storytelling and expression. There’s a short break between the pieces so the dancer can change costumes. Sharanya’s longest dance for her arangetram was almost an hour.
“That was a real milestone!” she says.
Since graduation, Sharanya has received the Merit Scholarship from her dance school. “I’ve been using that to further my education because I’m still learning so much,” she says. Sharanya also received the Michigan Indian Icon Award and the Michigan Talented Youth Award, and she is an Indian Raga fellow. She coordinates with dancers from all around to produce pieces that express her Indian culture and, in a sense, the divide between the Western and Indian cultures.
Sharanya has won numerous competitions and she’s performed at community centers, senior homes, fundraisers, charities, festivals and more.
“I’ve performed for so many different cultural festivals,” Sharanya says. “It’s really
taught me so much about my roots and my culture, from the way we dress, the Gods we pray to, and even the food we eat.”
She still trains with her guru, and in her spare time she teaches dance at the Sai Temple in Rochester Hills. “It’s really nice to take what I’ve learned and then share that with the kids and watch them go through the same process I did.”
Sharanya also uses dance as a way to express her thoughts on social issues that matter to her.
“Personally, I think that a lot of dance is about interpretation and I think using abstract movements to portray a message is really important,” she says. Sharanya believes it can inspire and help people from all walks of life.
“I’ve been able to grow as a dancer and try to make my work more meaningful by reaching out to audiences of all kinds. I’ve performed pieces about a lovelorn maiden longing for the Lord, or a troubled friend who is unable to speak up.”
Since the coronavirus pandemic began, she has choreographed multiple dance pieces at home, which have been published by the Indian Raga on its social media channels.
“I have a lot of fun when I’m just choreographing or looking at old pieces and trying to work on them again,” says Sharanya, who is also a captain on her school’s competitive dance team. “So it’s more like dance, for me especially, it’s just a way to be imaginative and honestly de-stress myself, and keep up with my endurance.”
Although Sharanya’s career passions are human rights, equality for all, and aid for the underprivileged, she plans to continue dancing, sharing and learning the art of Bharatanatyam for a very long time.
“I always find it fun for me to be either spreading the roots of our culture or sharing stories of our faith through the music,” Sharanya says. “Honestly, one thing with dance that’s really special to me is that every time I go for a performance I feel like I’m sharing my energy with the people in the room, and that uplifts them.”