It was a tremendous opportunity to be able to hear Smt Jamuna Krishnan speak at length about the poetry and dissect the various attributes that go into transferring this poem from words to abhinaya and movement. This workshop is just like a warm-up session into what seems to be an ocean of poetry and metaphors.

It truly was a great opportunity to have insight into Hindi poets. Jamuna Ji's choice of items for the workshop was both simple and intense which enabled me to have a diversified exposure to the subject. These thoughtful workshops which are so unique but so apt and much needed for the dancers of Chennai to explore a whole new world out there.

The workshop has opened windows into the world of Vidyapathi, Kabir and Surdas for me. One observed Abhinaya ranging from Bhakti to vatsalyam to sringara. The understanding that poems by the North Indian Poets are not very different from the poetry of the Kshetragna or Sarangapani or the Tamil Saints, all steeped in Srigara or vatsatyam or Bhakti. With the language of Bharatanatyam, how then should one treat the music and the interpretation to suggest a difference, if at all.

This workshop fuels the inner churning of serious upcoming dancers. All the sessions were like fodder for the mind.

For me, one of the biggest takeaways was a peek into how to use the dance vocabulary and technique without being bound by it but to look a little beyond it.