After her degree in biochemistry from the US, Kavya Giridharan was left wondering what to do. During one summer vacation in Chennai, she got a chance to teach in community schools and through that, realised the power of education. “I knew that I have a knack for teaching and that’s how I applied for Teach for America. I taught in Chicago for two years for Grade one students,” she starts.
In 2013, Kavya returned to India, and started working with Teach for India. “I started working in Mumbai — I was training the teachers. Then I shifted to Chennai, my hometown, where I was training teachers again. I am now working as a consultant and also teach part-time in schools in the city.”
Kavya, who loves dancing, started learning Bharatanatyam at the age of four in the US. During her college days, she started a dance group called, ‘Om Shanti’, and competed across the US in college festivals in Berkley, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and New York.
“Since I had formal training in Bharatanatyam, we performed Indian fusion and the audiences thoroughly enjoyed our dance shows,” she quips.
Being the founder, she had the liberty to organise the shows as well — “Though tiring, I gained a multi-level experience — on-stage and off-stage. I have got first-hand experience on the production side — stage arrangements, lighting, props, costumes and so on. This helped me gain confidence,” she mentions.
The teacher-choreographer also learnt ballet, modern dance and jazz. She started her dance company — Black Swan Dance — in May 2016. “I follow something called ‘b(swanography)’ — it’s a style of dance that doesn’t fall under any particular genre or style. There is no specific dance form, when it comes to dancing and that’s the speciality of the format! The dance depends on the song and whatever style suits that song. There will be classical, hip hop, Bharatanatyam, filmy, salsa, kuthu and so on,” she elaborates.
The youngster loves to work closely with the dancers, helping them develop — in terms of skill — both as a dancer and a performer. Kavya has been conducting various dance workshops in the city — “I have been holding classes open for a limited group of people (10-15). Next up, I will also be conducting classes at Slate in Nungambakam. There will be two types of classes — Bolly X (fitness) and b(swanography),” she reveals.
She has also launched her own dance video series called the #tamizhnaattubaani series. “Each chapter highlights an aspect of Tamil culture such as grace, wealth, new age love, beauty, skin, colour, etc,” concludes Kavya.
