‘I will dance as long as I can’

KOCHI: Chandrika Sundaresan was always fascinated by dance, bharatanatyam to be specific. The steps made by a dancer based on rhythm always soothed her. But what got her transfixed was the dancer's ability to bring joy and happiness to the viewer with each graceful movement. "I was always happy after watching a dance performance. I realised the dancer had to love what she does to project that level of happiness to the audience," she says. Focusing on this, Chandrika - along with eight other dancers - performed to her heart's content at Changampuzha Park on Monday, as part of Edappally Nrithaswadaka Sadas's sixth-anniversary celebrations. 

Chandrika is not a trained dancer. "Even though I wanted to undergo formal training in dance, factors in my life weren't favourable. My father couldn't afford to send me to dance classes," she says. That didn't stop her from pursuing dance in her own way. "At every opportunity, I danced. It got so ingrained in my system that my husband jokes that I dance even when I walk," she says. 

Chandrika's dancing days, however, stopped after school. "Even when my daughter went to her dance classes, I couldn't get back to it," she says. This changed when her grandson was born. "That year, I made my mind that I will take formal training in bharatanatyam, no matter what my age is," she says. 
Soon after, at the age of 50, Chandrika enrolled under dance teacher Sandhya Radhakrishnan. "It's been almost a year since that. Because of my commitments at home, I haven't been able to be consistent at the training though," she says. 

But she still danced wherever she could. At the same time, she also began doing a diploma course in bharatanatyam in Indira Gandhi National Open University. Chandrika has been performing at the anniversary celebrations of Edappally Nrithaswadaka Sadas. 

"This time, I performed with eight other dancers, of which four of us are homemakers. We will end the performance to the pancharatnakeerthanam 'Entharo Mahanubhavalu', during which we will pay tribute to the legends who have performed at Changampuzha Park," she says.Chandrika has the support of her husband T P Sundaresan, son Sree Sankar and daughter Suja Karthika who is also an actor. And will she continue dancing? "I will. As long as I can breathe," she says.