I didnt want to dance for money: Alekhya

Satvika Abhinaya“Ever since I was a kid, I was drawn towards dance,” recalls Alekhya who started learning Kathak and Odissi from her guru Late Shri Dayal Sharan when she was all of three years old. Then she started performing folk dances and others at school. But she confesses, “though I enjoyed learning these dance forms along with folk dances, Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi attracted me the most.” She went to Uma Rama Rao to learn Kuchipudi and performed her first Arangetram in 1977. After that there was no looking back for her. “It was a slow and continuous process of learning because I wanted to be a professional dancer. I didn’t want to dance for money, I wanted to dance for satisfaction,” she explains.Punjla, who is very popular for her Satvika Abhinaya, explains, “Abhinaya or expression is my forte and this is what people recognise me for. It is that part of the dance which not only deals with postures but also with emotional involvement.” She has even done her Ph.D in this aspect, with special reference to Kshetrayya Padams, which are based on the poetry of a 16th century poet. Alekhya has also done her bit to promote Annamacharya’s keertans, matching step for step with the devotional tunes. “A topic has to capture my interest to to do more research on it and come up with a dance production,” she says citing the keertans as an example.Sangeet Natak Akademi AwardOn receiving the award, a visibly happy Alekhya says, “It gives me a great sense of happiness and relief. After so many years of hard work, getting recognised for your work is very encouraging. Now I am happy that I made the right choice.” Turning nostalgic, she says she wants to take a relook at her rangaparvesham performance. “I guess, that event opened up the world for me. That was my most memorable performance,” she observes.Dancing as a profession for youth Punjla says that the fine arts and dance scenario in education should have more prominence. “Being a teacher, I think the present curriculum in the education system should include classical arts besides academics and other subjects so that students are exposed to art forms from a very young age. Unless exposed, today’s youth will not understand what classical or traditional art is,” she points out. However, she is conscious of the ground reality. “A lot of students these days, take up dance only as a hobby, because there are not many opportunities available,  professionally for them. And also there are not many universities which have dance teachers. We need more students who want to be researchers and teach dance, not just perform,” she says.Global acceptance of the art formAlekhya Punjla has performed in Poland, Turkey, Russia, England, Mauritius, United States of America and all the Gulf countries among others. “The response you get from people there is tremendous,” she says explaining the appeal of the art form across the globe. “Not just the Indian community in these countries, but even the natives appreciate your work. They are all so excited and curious that, they want to know more about the art form and its elements. It’s a wonderful experience.” She has also been recognised as one of the outstanding artists with the Indian Council for Culture Relations (ICCR).One of her performances, “meeting with you and me” along with contemporary dancer and choreographer Victoria Hauke, opened new horizons of experimentation. It was an encounter of both contemporary European and traditional Indian dance. Alekhya says, “Initially it was fairly challenging for the both of us. But, once Victoria and I started getting to know each, discovered the similarities and differences in our art forms, the performance emerged and interpreted what intercultural communication might look like.” intl Kuchipudi Dance festivalRenowned Kuchipudi dancers from the state went on board to promote the International Kuchipudi Dance Festival, including Alekhya Punjla, Shoba Naidu, Deepika Reddy, Uma Rama Rao, Padmaja Reddy, among others. The festival which was scheduled to be held from December 30 to Januray 1 got postponed till February 17 because of various reasons, one of them being security. Alekhya says, “We decided to postpone it till February. Students were backing out as they had their second term exams, New Year’s eve, security concerns of the dignitaries and many more issues had to be dealt with. So, logistically, we thought we should postpone it.”