Art And Accessibility

Neuroscientist and Bharatanatyam exponent Savitha Sastry is mainstreaming the classical dance form through film, social media and digital education

- Manvi Pant

Bharatanatyam dancer and choreographer Savitha Sastry’s experiments with traditional dancing techniques and her innovations in the field have been widely recognised by critics and peers alike. Known for pushing boundaries, Savitha is a pioneer in taking the dance out of its mythological and religious moulds, and using it to narrate novel stories. “This makes it more accessible to everyone – even those that have no initiation with the dance form,” says the Bengaluru-based neuroscientist and artist.

Born in Hyderabad to a Tamil family, Savitha picked up dancing at the age of five and a foray into Bharatanatyam came as a natural choice given her Tamil upbringing. “I was so enamoured by dance that I remember paying our domestic help a princely sum of 25 paise to play Dharmendra to my Hema Malini, and I would dance in our make-believe world with her!” the 50-year-old laughs. As a dance student, she took her first lessons at the Raja Rajeswari Kala Mandal Dance Academy in Mumbai. When she was 12, her family relocated to Chennai, where she continued her dance education.