Being a dancer is magnificent. And the dancer being a doctor surely has a catch, not to mention the perks. The Neelamana Sisters, who were once the leading performers of school and college-level youth festivals in Kerala, didn’t choose to quit dance even when they became busy doctors; thanks to the love and support of their family, these siblings neither did grow apart after they got married.
Trained classical dancers, Dr Draupadi Praveen and Dr Padmini Krishnan, the former who excelled in Bharatanatyam and the latter in Kuchipudi, still continue their success journey as dancers and doctors. Though trained in different dance forms, the duo only gives Jugalbandis, joint performances of Kuchipudi and Bharatnatyam. “We always perform together, that’s why we are known as Neelamana Sisters,” says Padmini, who is a diabetician.
Draupadi got married to Praveen Namboodiri and settled in Kollam, whereas Padmini got married to Krishnan Namboodiri and settled in Kottayam. Even being at different places, together, the sisters took their passion and profession to a different level. Using their multiple skills, they formed something close to Dance Therapy, the psychotherapeutic use of movement and dance to support intellectual, emotional and motor functions of the body. “We haven’t put a board to call it Dance Therapy even though we are formulating something on similar lines,” says Draupadi, a general practitioner.
Born in a family full of doctors, the duo taking up medical profession didn’t come as a surprise, but dance was their soul even while practising medicine. But little did they know then that it would turn out to be their biggest merit. Now, the siblings have their dance school Natyapriya in three centres — Kollam, Kottarakkara and Kottayam. “I won’t call dance a treatment; it is a support mechanism. By practice, we help them gain control over movements. Behavioral therapy also comes with it. We focus on mental relaxation through dance and thus, it helped many students gain dignified behaviour, as their parents report,” says Draupadi.
Over the past four years, most admissions to the school are children and ailing elders. “For us, dance is a combination of mental, physical, spiritual elements. Not that we purposefully started anything called dance therapy. It just so happened that parents were more confident to admit their children as we are doctors. Normally, students with physical limitations do not get admission to dance schools. It is a great blessing for us to entwine dance and medicine to help patients get better. Our medical knowledge helps us choreograph adavus and postures,” says Padmini. They have so far trained mentally-challenged students, children with difficulty in eye-hand coordination, cerebral disorders and cerebral cortex problems.
Through a scientific process, the duo gets the medical history of students before beginning the training and gives them dance exercises based on their condition. Says Dr Padmini, “I had a student with foot drop problem caused by weakness or paralysis of muscles involved in lifting the front part of the foot; it is basically a nervous disorder. So I had to give dance movements to improve dorsiflexion. Now she is much better.”
Draupadi too has a story to share. “One 50-year-old lady who came to me with a case of blood pressure had it reduced soon after she began dancing.” These sisters are happy to put their talent and expertise into good use. “All this while, what we learned is that our experience matters and this has become part of our soul. Since we have the full support of our family, we are planning further research on how to make it more practical,” Draupadi signs off.
