Shoma Kaikini, a Kathak dancer who began learning dance at the early age of 4, believes that the best way to express yourself is through dance. Having learnt Kathak and Bharatanatyam, she solemnly feels that ‘Dance is profusely effective if done from the heart’. “You don’t just tell a story to the audience by your dance but you take the audience along with you inside the story. You can connect your inner spirit to the inner spirit of the audience just by performing from your own inner spirit,” exclaims Shoma.
In the past, when Shoma and her troupe have performed, viewers have often asked them one question – ‘What world was it that you dancers created?’ That is the power of dance and a traditional form like Kathak, which means to tell a Katha (story) definitely leads to creating an unimaginable world!
Drama is not the actor crying but the audience crying…
Similarly, dance is not the dancer performing but the audience flowing into the escapade of emotions. When you dance, you forget everything, all your worries, all your tensions and focus only on yourself. Shoma says, “We are so caught up with our lives that we focus on everything apart from ourselves. We make time for everyone but don’t know what to do with our own selves.”
Dance is the time when you express yourself without bothering about the world. For when you dance, you just go with the flow and Kathak being an expressive form of dance, you tend to forget your whole being and enjoy every moment. Shoma expresses, “Through dance, you can communicate your feelings to the audience, you can make them laugh, and you can make them cry. And traditional dance forms have the power to create a unique magic that mesmerises everyone by its serenity.”
However mediocre your art is, how great you are lies in what you are…
Having travelled to Mumbai all by herself at the tender age of 19, Shoma was determined to follow her passion which was not just to dance but to ‘create better people through dance’. She quit her education halfway in Bangalore and stepped in Mumbai with a dream to set up a dance institution where she could spread love and touch souls, not just mere lives. “I never dreamt of being a great dancer but I just wanted to be a better person and create a world with better people around me,” admits Shoma.
As a child, she always enjoyed dancing but never enjoyed the atmosphere of her dance classes or the teachers that she came across. It is then that she decided that she needs to create a healthy loving environment for beginners like her and also good teachers. So, facing all financial odds, she set up her dance institution for girls named ‘Nrityanidhi’ in 2005 and today she has fulfilled both her aspirations of creating a healthy environment and being a good teacher herself. “I had always tried to fit in the crowd when I was young but later I realised that I am what I am and I am unique as a person with a special calling. Believing in myself, I chased my dream till I fulfilled it and things started falling in place,” exclaims Shoma.
A home away from home…
“Nrityanidhi is not a dance institution but it is a family and it is ‘OUR FAMILY’,” claims Aakruti, a student since 10 years. Shilpa, a student since 5 years, says, “It is the only dance class where you can come anytime, go anytime, dance anytime, anyhow and anywhere! There are no restrictions and we share a personal deep bond with each other.”
At Nrityanidhi, with Shoma as the dance teacher, there is tremendous freedom and personal connection with every student. Shoma herself counsels every student and helps them in their personal, financial, professional and emotional issues. Sheetal, a student since 4 years, claims, “At Nrityanidhi, we believe in each other just because Shoma believes in us and thus, we have a strong support system. We are a family beyond blood relations.”
We don’t teach how to dance; we teach how to live by changing your entire world and your inner self…
Shoma takes in limited students for she aims to give personal attention to everyone. She knows her student as a person first then as a dancer. Often we are pressurised by burdens of life, tensed up with worries and lost in our own fast-paced world and forget how beautiful and vast the world is. We are not happy in spite of possessing everything.
Shoma believes, “Dance is an escape from these worries as it transcends you into another world where you are happy and your spirit is lively. Kathak helps you to let go of everything that you have stored within you through dark experiences of life.”
Our aim is not to create dancers but to make better people, to create an identity of yourself…
Having won several awards for spellbound performances across the globe, Shoma has created her own style by amalgamating techniques of Kathak and Ballet and various other forms. The feel of the dance is the same be it Bollywood, Hollywood or Sufi. Nrityanidhi is the only institution in Mumbai that teaches the original form of Kathak and also experiments its techniques in other forms.
It allows to expand the boundaries of Kathak by maintaining the ground principles yet tapping other styles. Sheetal expresses, “At Nrityanidhi, we learn the rules to break the rules.” Nrityanidhi also offers jobs to their students and financial support to start their own institution to spread the essence to other people who are wandering for fulfilment. Shoma says, “I don’t want to make my students like me, I want to make them better than me for each one is unique and has her own style, her own identity. I just want to help them discover and create that identity.”
Kathak is not a dance of the body but of the spirit…
In this time of Western dance forms like Hip Hop and Bollywood captivating the audience, traditional dance forms often seem difficult and boring for you and me. But, the fact is that classical forms like Kathak are comparatively easy and act as a stress buster as there are minute graceful movements and leeway of expressions. ‘You feel it to dance it!’ Shoma says, “Western dance often demands you to turn and twist your body, but in classical dance, you can just move your hands in a flow and feel it moving smoothly, and you have already done a step! Similarly, you move your eyes and smile, and you have already done an expression!”
‘Kathak defines Freedom’ or ‘Freedom defines Kathak’. Both stands true, as Shoma and her Nrityanidhi family aim to spread the love of traditional dancing with a higher vision of freeing souls from all bondage to become better human beings.
You can reach Nrityanidhi – Spiritual Exuberance through Dance on +91- 9833061698 or 9920906528
