Today we’d like to introduce you to Vinitha Subramanian.
Hi Vinitha, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Natyalaya School of Dance was started in 1981 in Temple, TX with just seven students, I started traveling Austin to teach in 1982 – starting with just five students to begin with in a trailer as part of the South Asian Studies Dept outreach of University of Austin. Over the years, the branch in College Station was added. Our classes moved from UT Austin campus to studio locations in NW Austin in the late nineties… We grew from strength to strength and could move into our own Austin studio from early in 2006. Natyalaya has grown into a premier dance school with over ten teachers training students in the ancient art of Bharatanatyam one of the oldest classical dance forms ( circa 2000 BC) of India. Students are trained in a codified step-wise training program – leading them to perform their arangtram- a solo dance program lasting 3 hours with a live orchestra. Students are also offered a well-rounded education in the theoretical aspects of Bharatanatyam as well so that they can sit for a diploma in Bharatanatyam should they choose to. Natyalaya has been conducting master classes and summer camps with distinguished artists from India from 1987. This allows our students to interact and learn from senior artists in Bharatanatyam and other classical dance forms. Natyalaya specializes in staging dance productions on current social themes as well as on Indian mythology.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
In the early years, it has been difficult to establish and grow the school as the Indian community was rather small in Austin and central Texas area. Once Austin started growing as the silicon valley of the south, the community started to grow from the late 1990s. I was commuting from Temple to teach in Austin in the 80s and 90s and had difficulty finding reasonably priced studio space to teach in. As the school grew exponentially, we were able to rent our own studio space but had difficulty finding qualified teachers to staff all the classes we had – so we had to start our own teacher training program so we could train our own students to teach beginner classes. Before 2000 we had great difficulty to find the musicians for a live orchestra for our arangetrams and performances – but with easing of visa restrictions after 2000 many orchestras could travel to USA and provide the accompaniment needed. But the biggest hit we faced came with the COVID pandemic. We could not do in person classes – so revenues fell. We had to retool for online classes which for a performing art is less than satisfactory. The children did not learn it properly and their interests often flagged. Yet we had overhead expenses to meet, maintaining the studio, hiring more instructors so we could have double coverage in online classes. Enrollment has fallen by 40 % as disheartened parents withdrew the children. But we hope with the passing of the pandemic and in person lessons, we can grow back to pre-pandemic levels.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
We teach the joy of dance through the instruction of one of the oldest classical dance forms of India called Bharatanatyam – it is a comples art form with codified movements derived from an ancient treatise called Natya Shastra (written approx 2000BC). This instruction is handed down in a traditional manner from Guru (Teacher) to Shishya (pupil). Yet we adapt the teaching for the 21st century using modern technological aids to aid the student to understand the culture and heritage of this art form to internalize the learning. We participate in cross-cultural events to share our heritage with other communities and to learn from them as well.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We love to collaborate with groups in our dance productions and maybe have them do segments of it. We love to do lec – dem for different groups to give an insight into our dance form… We give lectures in local community colleges give performances on request so other communities can interact with us.
Contact Info:
- Email: natyalayatx@gmail.com
- Website: www.natyalaya.us
- Instagram: @natyalaya.atx
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NatyalayaDance
Image Credits
Misha Shah, Students of Natyalaya, Vinitha Subramanian
