Vijayalakshmi on Mohiniyattam: ‘It is healing, therapeutic and empowering’

Dancer Vijayalakshmi will give a Mohiniyattam recital at the Bangalore International Centre

Dancer Vijayalakshmi will give a Mohiniyattam recital at the Bangalore International Centre (BIC). The evening will feature a repertoire of traditional Mohiniyattam and innovative works, choreographed by the dancer.

“The event will showcase the spirit and technique of the dance form, besides highlighting its relevance to contemporary times,” says the US-based dancer.

The evening will feature Ashtapadi, with an excerpt from Jayadeva’s Gita Govindam, Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas, Rain and Beyond Grace, choreographed in Mohiniyattam.

Vijayalakshmi, daughter of the legendary Mohiniyattam dancer, Bharati Shivaji, is also known as a choreographer, actor, writer and singer. She describes herself as a dancer who is constantly exploring uncharted territory and expanding traditional boundaries.

The dancer, who is the founder-director of The Mohiniyattam Institute, Los Angeles, and the artistic-director of the Centre for Mohiniyattam, New Delhi, says, she was inspired to take up Mohiniyattam watching her mother. “I saw her begin the process of reviving and restructuring the dance form and giving it a new lease of life.”

That was the beginning Vijayalakshmi says. “I was 10 years old and had been training in Bharatanatyam for five years by then. I started my Mohiniyattam journey when I was 11 with my mother who became my teacher and mentor. It was a unique, parallel journey I had with my guru. My mother was also a Bharatantayam dancer and we transitioned to Mohiniyattam together.”

Being compared to her mother on stage was inevitable, Vijayalakshmi says. “When I was younger, in my 20s, there was a lot of pressure. By the time I was 30, and created my own choreographies, there came a moment when I became fearless in expressing who I was as a dancer and as a woman. My works became unique and were different from what any other Mohiniyattam dancer had ever done.”