FINDING THE RIGHT GURU

Bharatanatyam is a beautiful Journey. A Bharatanatyam Guru will guide you through this journey and assist you to become a versatile dancer.

In this information-overloaded era, it’s so easy to get a bunch of Bharatanatyam teachers in one click. But finding the right Guru is crucial. A Guru plays a pivotal role. As the word in Sanskrit says, ‘Gu’ is darkness or ignorance and ‘Ru’ means the one who dispels darkness and shows the light. Quite literally this shows that the Guru can guide you throughout your journey. A good dance teacher not just teaches dance but also helps you to build interpersonal skills.

The right Bharathanatyam Guru will have wealth of knowledge and experience to engage with young students, teach the correct techniques and carve a niche for you to sparkle through from day one.I started learning Bharatanatyam at a young age and have come a long way from there. I got inspired by my Guru at that time, who was dancing at her 60s with active mind and body. She helped me to build the foundation for a life-long love affair with dance.I have always felt it takes certain qualities to become a Guru. As easy as it may sound, it takes Passion, Professionalism, Punctuality and Promptitude to adorn the role of the Guru. It became my priority to learn Theory of dance along with practicals. A Guru who provides an overall learning experience of balancing practical and theoretical aspects of dance shows their training standards.

A Guru is not just a choreographer, they need to be equipped well with the right teaching tools for different students. In my opinion, a Guru not just corrects but provides honest feedback, genuine praise and constructive criticism and sets a target to aim and work towards. There might be instances where some teachers don’t work for us somehow. Reasons may vary due to expectations from students or expectations from the teachers don’t meet. I have had try quite a few dance institutes before I found the right one for me. I usually look for reviews and recommendations for the teacher, attend a trial class, compare the classes and pick the one which I can engage and connect easily.There are situations where we cannot continue learning from the same Guru. I had such experiences myself. In my early years of learning, I didn't make proper notes, so when I had to change teachers, I didn't have anything to refer to. This served as a good lesson for me to make sure to account your learning either in notes, videos and audio. Every time I had to change from one teacher to another, it's like Reset & Restart (there is no shortcut). The time taken in building connection and rapport with your teacher is very important. In that way, it gives both the teacher and student to assess each other. Once the rhythm is set and the teacher finds potential in you then you can ace.

I have shared my experiences in finding right guru and I have found the right guru, hope you will find yours.