Exclusive! Tejasswi Prakash: I learnt Bharatnatyam for seven years, plan to have an arangetram function

Tejasswi Prakash/ Ashish Ojha

Tejasswi Prakash, winner of Bigg Boss 15 and lead on Naagin 6, caught up with mid-day.com to celebrate 'World Dance Day.' The actress speaks about being a trained Bharatnatyam dancer and why she recommends that others should train in Indian classical dance forms!

What are your earliest memories of learning dance?

I always loved dancing and singing. My mum and dad were of the opinion that if one has a strong classical base, we can do anything! So that's why my parents enrolled me in classical dancing and singing classes. I learnt Bharatnatyam for seven years and gave four exams. I'm yet to complete my arangetram (first stage performance) but I will do that once I get a break from work. I plan to complete my three pending exams and have an arangetram function.

I started learning dance at 5-6 years and would wear my salwar suit with dupatta and head to class. I still remember a few mudras. I had a sir, who was amazing but at times also scary if we didn't maintain the correct posture. Whenever I couldn't catch the beats, sir would fling his stick at me, bahut maar padi hai (laughs.) It was the most amazing time!

My mum made it a point to ensure I was a busy child, along with dance I was also learning singing, swimming, gymnastics, karate, drawing and attending sanskar varg classes. I lived close to a temple so we would go there to learn stotras, mantras and listen to the Bhagavad Gita and Mahabharata being read.

Do you feel the training in dance helps you with acting as well?

I am also a vlogger and a lot of times people comment on the posture of my hands and fingers. That is because of Bharatnatyam! I always sit up straight because that is the posture we had to maintain as dancers. I have big expressive eyes, the entire dance form is about emoting with your eyes and with mudras. You recite a story through your dance. Whatever my mum made me learn as a child is helping me with my profession now and I didn't understand it back then!

Classical singing training has helped with voice modulation during my scenes, depending on whether I want it to be intense or high pitched! I pick up the ‘sur' of the scene well! At the same time I'm bad at impromptu dancing, because I'm shy!

Why would you recommend Indian dance forms to others?

There's so much storytelling in Indian dance forms, so expressive yet soft. I'm a Maharashtrian but I can't do Lavani, I've learnt a South Indian dance form. There's Bhangra, Garba, Bihu, so many dance forms in our country! Learning an Indian dance form is something you have to start as a kid because it teaches you much more than just dance moves. It's not physical; it's emotional and educates you about our culture. I was probably born a good dancer and picked up Bharatnatyam quickly, someonelse may be good at hip-hop or ballet.

Bharatnatyam connects me to my Indian roots and I take pride in it. I've been dancing with ghungroos since I was a kid. We start with Bharatnatyam namaskar, which is thanking the land we are about to dance on. Every time we would wear or take off ghungroos we would perform its pooja, we worship our ghungroos. It taught me so much about life and valuing everything that you do, be it respecting teachers or even every element on this earth!