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Viji Prakash: Popularising Bharatnatyam in US

7 January 2004, 18:00 PM
LIFESTYLE
By Anuradha Kishore Ganapathy
7 January 2004, 18:00 PM
Viji Prakash
The girls stand barefoot, in jagged rows, with long black braids brushing their backs, eyes closed and hands clasped. It is 8:30 on a Sunday morning in the San Fernando Valley, a suburb of Los Angeles, California, and while many residents are just waking up, a group of young girls is about to begin a Bharatanatyam class at Pierce Community College. The location could easily have been Mylapore or T. Nagar in Chennai, as rows of some twenty young girls recite the Sanskrit prayer to Lord Nataraja. Prayer over, the class begins. Draped in a striking orange salwar kameez that nicely sets off the tracks of diamond studs glittering from the top to the bottom of her ears emerges Viji Prakash, her barefoot rhythmically tapping out the talas. Her students, mostly female, call her 'Viji Aunty", and it is the title she usually responds to.

Born and raised in Bombay, Viji Prakash started learning Bharatanatyam at the young age of four. When she was sixteen, Viji performed in her arangetram (first stage performance) and continued to dance and tour India. "Dancing did not mean giving up studies and other extra curricular activities". An alumni of the Cathedral and John Cannon School, Bombay (now Mumbai), Viji did her undergraduate at the Elphistone College, Bombay, and a post graduate diploma at the Sophia Polytechnic. Her brief stints, performing in the Shira Jeffrey's English Theatre group, being in the first women's cricket team and working for Bombay Television have all moulded her personality. But all along, she continued to dance her Bharatanatyam and even studied Mohiniattam and Kathakali from the renowned dancer Kanak Rele for several years.

In 1976 Viji married Kikkeri Prakash to leave Bombay and settle in Los Angeles. It is here in Los Angeles that Viji made a bigger contribution to the arts. By performing and teaching extensively, Viji has helped transport the Americans and the second-generation Indian-American students into a world of rhythm, music, footwork, discipline, art and religion. She undoubtedly has become India's cultural ambassador to the US.

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An extremely gifted and versatile performing artist, Viji has become a leading figure within the South Asian community here in Los Angeles. Through her extraordinary talent and commitment to the arts, Viji has come to lend a new dimension to teaching and performing Bharatanatyam.

Today, Viji runs one of the most prominent and oldest Bharatanatyam dance schools in Southern California. She is director and founder of the Los Angeles-based "Shakti School of Bharatanatyam", established in 1977 now in its 27th year of operation, as well as of its performing affiliate, "Shakti Dance Company". Viji is also an Associate Professor of Dance in the UCLA Department of World Arts & Culture, Los Angeles. She has received several honours and awards. She also received the "Best Guru" award in 2000 by the prestigious Madras Music Academy, Chennai, India.

Source: India Perspectives