THE CELESTIAL DANCER

AWARD-WINNING DANSEUSE LEELA SAMSON OPENS UP TO PROVOKE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE IN THIS CANDID INTERVIEW AS SHE PREPARES FOR THE UPCOMING SPANDA DANCE COMPANY THAT WILL BE PERFORMING FOR THE PROVOKE LIFESTYLE ART FESTIVAL

- NAMITA GUPTA

Leela Samson is a true personification of elegance and grace as she casts a spell with her nimble dance moves. The former director Kalakshetra and former Chairperson of Sangeet Natak Akademi and Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has many awards and recognitions to her credit. Some of them include the Padma Shri, the Sanskriti, Nritya Choodamani, Kalaimamani given by Government of Tamil Nadu and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for her contributions to Bharatanatyam.

The Spanda Dance Company was founded in 1995 with the intention of exploring ensemble work in Bharatanatyam. The choreographies are meant for multiple dancers - usually around eight, both male and female - who engage in a less solo-centric form, without the need to convert all story-telling into a male-female construct and breaking from the frontal, made-for-the proscenium stage presentations that the soloist has conformed to for over a century. The performances include the abstract and the symbolic, the traditional and the contemporary, without forsaking the vocabulary of Bharatanatyam that forms the bedrock of the style we love. All Spanda choreographies made thus far are by Leela Samson, the founder of the Company. Here's Leela in conversation with Team Provoke.

Did you always wanted to become a dancer and did you have this dream ever since your childhood?