‘Passion and self respect are a dancer’s mantras’

CHENNAI:  The Indian classical dance exponent, and veteran Bharatanatyam and Odissi guru, Sonal Mansingh, was in the city recently for an event organised by The Duchess Club at Hotel Savera. She was in conversation with Priyadarshini Govind, the well-known Bharatanatyam dancer based in Chennai. During her hour-long talk, she kept an audience of 200 women engaged, as she spoke about her life as an artist.

For women who had only been introduced to her on stage as a dancer, the talk threw light on the struggles she went through to get where she was. The Padma Vibhushan awardee shared anecdotes about the time when her guru was angry that she didn’t know to express the bhava of love, her learning that success and money are not what should drive an artist, and her understanding of social responsibility through art much later in life.

Talking about her experience of conversing with a room full of inspiring women, she said, “It was a positive and energetic morning to be with inspiring women educationists, doctors, lawyers, and entrepreneurs of Chennai. I particularly enjoyed the question and answer session.” In her response to a member’s question about being a successful dancer, she pressed upon the importance of passion and self respect in everything one pursues.

To Priyadarshini Rajkumar’s query about Sonal’s relationship with her students, the dance exponent explained that she has learnt to not have expectations. Because even if there might be a spark, not all can take up dance as a career today. After the event, women of the club stayed back for a chat with Sonal. Priyadarshini, a bharatanatyam dancer herself, shared that it was inspiring to hear about the human side to a woman she idolises as perfect. “I could relate to all that she shared, because as a dancer, I know what it means to stand by a vision,” she said.