‘Social media has turned us all into performers’: Anita Ratnam

At 65, dancer Anita Ratnam has embraced all the permutations of the online world and is creating a digital legacy

Seize the moment, tell your story. That’s the sentiment that’s driven veteran dancer Anita Ratnam for the last 30 years — first in her interaction with the internet and, more recently, social media platforms. “People unknown two years ago have become huge stars on social media, all because they have seized the moment. They are younger and more nimble, but that doesn’t mean that at any age we can’t continue to morph and use technology,” says the enthusiastic 65-year-old, one of the first to have a website way back in 1996. (Narthaki.com started off as a telephone directory with 1,000 names — an idea that took shape when the American Broadcasting Company couldn’t reach dancer Yamini Krishnamurthy, and Ratnam helped source her number.)

“Media and visibility are so democratised now. The towers and castles have all been demolished. So, why should I be sitting in one?” Having worked for 10 years in New York as a television producer, media was not new to her. Neither was imagining the camera to be her best friend.