Virtual disciple

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It’s just after 7 on a recent Friday night when 14-year-old Shruti Parthasarathy comes bounding down the stairs of her family’s Middleton home, barefoot and dressed in a bright blue and pink salwar kameez, a traditional style of Indian dress. She leads the way into a basement studio with a glossy wooden floor and floor-to-ceiling mirrors. The fuchsia walls match her sash. In one corner, there’s a small Hindu shrine, and in another, a shrine to Shruti — photos and newspaper clippings affixed to the wall, along with souvenirs documenting her blossoming career as a top-ranked Bharatanatyam dancer.

“I started at age 5,” she tells Isthmus, “and something just clicked.”

In another corner, there’s a computer with a monitor mounted high on the wall. Right on schedule, the screen lights up at and the studio’s built-in sound system rings with the familiar sound of an incoming Skype call. It’s now 7:30 p.m. in Middleton, but it’s 6 a.m. in Chennai, India, home of famed Bharatanatyam guru Medha Hari, whose face appears on the screen, waving hello. Shruti greets her teacher and kneels before the computer, hands pressed together, singing a quick Hindu prayer. Then, she’s up and dancing, twirling through an impossibly complex sequence of intricate moves as Hari watches and claps along with the rhythm from 8,400 miles away.

“It’s a different way to learn, but it’s not that different from learning face-to-face,” says Shruti, who has been taking virtual lessons twice a week with Hari for the past two years. Instead of the hands-on assistance she would get in a typical dance class, Shruti learns by watching and imitating — and having Hari watch and critique. Learning remotely means there’s more pressure on the student to take ownership about corrections in posture and technique.

“It’s made me improve in a different way,” Shruti says. “It’s made me really mentally aware.”

Many of the top Bharatanatyam teachers are based in India, and their instruction methods are notoriously strict — “there’s no sugar-coating,” says Shruti’s mother, Hemalatha Parthasarathy, who introduced her daughter to the ancient art form shortly after the family moved from India to Madison a decade ago. Bharatanatyam originated more than 2,000 years ago in Tamil Nadu, a state in southeastern India. Its technique and philosophical foundations come from ancient Sanskrit Hindu texts.

“I wanted her to learn her roots,” Hemalatha says. “But I think she liked the makeup and the costumes.”

Shruti started taking lessons at the Mandir of Madison, the local Hindu temple, and later studied under guru Meenakshi Ganeshan, founder of Kalaanjali School of Dance and Music in Verona. Shruti had her Arangetram, or dance graduation ceremony, in Chennai in 2013, and after that began studying with Hari with the goal of taking her skills “to the next level.”

“I never thought it would go this far,” Hemalatha says. “Now she’s one of the top dancers from the U.S.”

Shruti thinks about dance constantly — she watches videos on YouTube between homework assignments and often retreats to the basement studio after midnight to practice.

“She stays up until 1, 2 a.m.,” Hemalatha says. “I’m like, Shruti, go to bed!”

But the dedication has paid off. In April, Shruti placed third at the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana, the largest Indian classical music and dance festival outside of India. She was also a finalist in the Overture Center’s 2016 Rising Stars contest and has repeatedly placed in international dance competitions. The pieces she performs tell the stories of Hindu gods and goddesses, but the narratives also contain messages on “how to be a better person,” Shruti says.

“Not only does it shape who I am,” she adds, “but it also helps me give back to my community.”

Bharata: A mnemonic whose three sounds translate to “emotions, melody and rhythm”

Natyam: Sanskrit word for dance

1910: The Madras Presidency of the British Empire bans temple dancing

1947: British rule ends, leading to a resurgence of Bharatanatyam