NATANAM

The Portrait of Willpower

Dancer-cum-Musician – Sutikshana Veeravalli

Sutikshna Veeravalli, a NRI youngster, had delivered her first performance at the Ardhra Hall in Huzur Road. Thanks to her uncle S. Ramesh Kumar because of whom a number of Coimbatoreans could savour her music during the two-hour concert which was offered by the Rajalakshmi Fine Arts as part of the NRI Music Festival in conjunction with the Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival Committee. Her great grandfather, Krishnaswamy Iyengar was the Chief Engineer who had worked with the electricity board in connection with the Kundah project and he was among the earliest to visit Sweden and Finland with regard to technology absorption. While her maternal grandfather, R. Santhanam retired as the Deputy Chief Engineer of the Railways, her grandmother continued to be a Thanjavur painting exponent.

Sutikshna meant 'sharp' and she sure is. The 26-year-old was brought up by her father, Madhavan and mother, Vanitha at Chicago. She had done her Undergraduate programme in English & Psychology with a Neuro-Science specialisation at the University of Illinois (USA). Though Sutikshana had congenital issues (she has no palm in one hand and wears prosthesis in one leg) dance and music were an integral part of her life right from her younger days. Despite her disabilities, she remained resolute in her determination to succeed and pursue her goals and dream.

Her father happened to sing really well and was born with music; while her mother, Vanitha was a talented dancer whose performance of the dance drama on the life of Saint Thyagaraja had been recognised. Sutikshna captivated the people with seven songs including ‘Hiranmayim Lakshmim’ by Muthuswamy Dikshitar, ‘Brovabarama’ by Thyagaraja, ‘Ma Janaki’ by Thyagaraja, ‘Deva Devam’ by Annamacharya and ‘Karpagam’ by Swathi Thirunal.

The talented dancer-cum-singer had spoken at the sylvan residence of her uncle S. Ramesh Kumar at Mayflower Sakthi on Nanjundapuram road, Coimbatore. "We have the group, 'Anubhava' where about half a dozen of us consisting of musicians and dancers perform in a number of places with our own choreography. We are self-contained and self-sufficient. The music season outside of Chennai is at Ohio in the USA," smiled Sutikshna.

Sutikshna had absorbed over 30 Varnams and a number of Keerthanais over the years. She had begun her innings with music and dance quite early in life. R. Suryaprakash of the Madurai Mani Iyer lineage had trained her and she had learnt it through, both, online and offline modes. She brimmed with confidence while talking about her career as a behaviour therapist who addresses issues as a special-needs-teacher. Basically, she wished to continue with her work, music, and dance.

"Music and dance are part of my life and they help people who have issues of all kinds, be it physical or otherwise. They act as energisers and motivators all through. Coordination of muscles improve with dance and music. Besides all this, one’s body awareness gets to a higher level over a period of time. Children with a spectrum of difficulties have an innate sense of music and it helps them enormously. While we must be aware that all this is useful, we must understand that therapy cannot be a template fix. It has to be addressed on an individual basis. Something in music and something in dance is helpful for it strikes a place that intellect cannot reach,” added the dancer-musician, Sutikshna. She has performed in Chicago, Cleveland, New Jersey, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Detroit, Houston, Raleigh, Madison, Lexington, Washington DC etc.

"Basically, music is being used as a time pass, entertainment or prayer by most people. It can be used for therapy too and I hope to take it forward professionally in that direction. It will help a person to face challenges and sort out issues in the long run," brimmed Sutikshna with confidence while sharing facets and nuggets about herself and her activities. Sutikshna had won a number of accolades over time and the world wide web is full of information which talks about her performances around the world. The young talent was ready to help people circumvent their difficulties with the aid of music and dance.

Sutikshna was of the firm opinion that music and dance will make life better for the ones facing challenges.

Her guidance will surely help people to turn adversities into advantages!