BENGALURU: A visually-impaired dance troupe from Shree Ramana Maharishi Academy for the Blind, led by Dharmaraju, performed at the International Performing Art Festival recently.
Dharmaraju has been training students at the academy from 2009, since he completed his studies, with the touch-and-feel method and a lot of patience.
After performing a piece titled Darkness to Lightness, the exponent told City Express that being a visually-impaired performer is challenging, but the appreciation he receives keeps him going.
On his teaching technique, he says, “We understand dance steps through the touch-and-feel method. We keep count of the leg movements so that the performers don’t go wrong with their positions.”
While learning, students touch trainers’ hands or legs to understand the movements. “Even the choreographer has to use the same method,” he says. With partial vision, Dharmaraju trains the team with ease.
“The training starts from the basics, including exercises and mudras. This is the most difficult phase as the students are new to dance,” he says. “We have to be very patient. Even when a new dance is being choreographed, it takes a lot of time for everyone to perfect it.”
Still, not every performance is perfect, he admits. “Sometimes, we just have to ignore a few mistakes,” he says.
The performance by the seven-member team was lauded by the audience. “The appreciation we received from experts is encouraging,” he says.
Dharmaraju and his team also made it to Guinness Book of World Records in 2013 for being part of the largest Tarangam dance, consisting of 1,054 participants. “We danced on a plate,” he says.
During his 19 years in the field, he says, his performance at America Kannada Kootagala Association (AKKA) Sammelan remains his best “as a lot of people watched and encouraged me”.
His first stage performance was on April 17, 1997. His talent took him to Australia in 1999 where he danced in front of a huge gathering. Dharmaraju has since given performances in the USA and Australia.
He and his team specialise in Bharatanatyam, folk, semi-classical and Punjabi dance styles.
His journey with dance began on February 17, 1997 – a Tuesday – a date he cannot easily forget. He was 11 then.
“My father was worried that this might hamper my studies. But I convinced him to allow me to follow my passion.”
In fact, he says, his exam scores went up after he started learning dance. This, according to him, is because “dance requires concentration, and remembering steps improves memory and focus”.
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