MEGNA MURALI 14 Arathi School of Dance Scholarship
Megna Murali is an avid dance lover and dancer. Her interest in dance started at a very young age and she was formally inducted into the Indian Classical Bharathanatyam school at the tender age of four. Several years of training and practice culminated in her completing her stage debut, or Bharathanatyam Arangetram in Dec 2006, when she was only 11 years old.
Rigorous practice and adherence to a regimen has resulted in many performances and accomplishments. In December 2009, she performed in the Chennai music festival season. It was a great honor and privilege to perform at prestigious events like Chennayil Thiruvaiyaru and the Marundeeswara Temple, Chennai, India.
Megna is also adept in Kathak which is another premier dance form that comes from North India and loves to experiment with other dance styles like ballet & jazz. She has given quite a few performances fusing both the Eastern & Western styles in her choreography.
Her interest in dance has led her to believe that she will be associated with this dance form at a professional level. She is also planning to see if Bharathanatyam and Kathak can be used effectively to cure or treat autism (Dance Therapy). This idea comes from the fact that the mind and the soul will be stimulated by this art form which brings coordination to both aspects of one's existence.
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Participating in Mrs. Priyadarshini Govind workshop has been a memorable experience. Learning from her really helped me develop my skill as a dancer and as a person. The dance workshop she conducted was incredible and extremely encouraging.
Priya Aunty is a very meticulous, yet creative dancer. Her ideas on posture really enhanced her style of Bharathanatyam. The quality of her dance was greatly increased by her attention to posture, as well as other minor details. It was a great experience to watch her dance gracefully with careful awareness of these details.
Another interesting aspect of her dance style is her choreography. The steps and movements that she used in her dance showed me how imaginative and original one could be. Interestingly, she used humor and other nonconventional qualities in her dance.
Such a passionate teacher is very difficult to find and I would like to follow in her footsteps and become a creative dancer like her.
I would like to thank my guru, Radhika Ganesh, for recommending me for the scholarship. Also, thanks to Mrs. Revathi Satyu and Mrs. Suma Kulkarni from the Arathi School of Dance for believing in my potential as a dancer.