1. What dance forms do you teach?
We teach Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Temple Dances (Andhra Natyam), Folk Dances of India, and Contemporary Dances.
2. How do I enroll my child?
Contact the teacher through phone or email to setup an appointment and start from there. Details can be found in the Contact Us section of this website.
3. How many classes do you provide in a month?
Depending on the amount of weeks consisting in that particular month, students will receive 8-10 classes in a month. That means that students will receive 2 classes in a week, each class a duration of one hour.
4. How long will it take to learn the beginner level class?
An average child takes 8 months to complete Level 1. Progress may be faster or slower depending upon the child's individual capacity and practice.
5. Why are parents not allowed to watch their kids during the class time?
a. Students will build a better interaction and relationship with the teacher which helps them in learning faster.
b. To avoid comparison between kids.
c. Parents tend to become teachers to their kids and don't allow the dance teacher to make any necessary corrections.
d. Students are confused on whom to listen to.
e. Capacity of the dance hall.
6. How do I know what my child has learned?
Parents will be called for a Parent-Teacher Conference at semi-annual or annual intervals depending on the parents' choice, so that the teacher can show the child's progress and discuss it. We have found that this builds a very good trust relationship between the teachers and parents.
7. How can I make my child practice at home?
For any Art Form, most parents (unless they have a background in the Art Form) will not be able to teach or correct their child. They can ensure that they allocate and make sure that the child practices daily on their own. This helps the child in memorizing the dance and the song.
8. How do I know that my child is dancing correctly?
After the completion of the particular course/level, we will request that you give us a flash drive. We will record the piece and you can use this at home to ensure that your child is dancing correctly.
9. When can my child perform?
In India, the child gets to perform for the first time only after learning 10 songs and this performance is called "Arangetram" or "Ranga Pravesham". This will be the first performance which challenges the child and the Guru. It takes about 4-5 Years to reach this stage even though they take 3+ classes a week. The performance lasts for about 2 hours.
Here in the United States, we are more flexible and usually allow them to perform after they have learned their first song.
10. Where can I get costumes and dance jewellery for my children?
They can be bought from India on their own or you can order them through the teacher. Otherwise, the students can ask the teacher for a couple of websites through which they can order their needed costumes and dance jewellery.
11. How can we get the traditional dance songs which my child is learning?
These songs are unavailable on the market and for download on the internet. They have to be purchased from the dance teacher. The dance teacher does the same from their Gurus.
Generally any performance in India is on Live Orchestra which includes the Nattuvangam, Mrudangam, Vocal, Violin, Veena, and Flute. Therefore we have to pay for all the resources for every program. Since we are in the USA, we cannot get the entire orchestra here, so we buy these songs from our Gurus.
12. Why are some dances performed for only a part of the song?
a. Some parts of songs such as Jayadeva's Ashtapadi, Bhama Kalapam, Padams, Javalis, Annamacharya Kirtanas,
etc. are influenced with "Sringara Rasa", which is inappropriate for kids. Those particular stanzas will be avoided
b. There are some songs which repeats the same thing in different stanzas and hence the depiction of the gestures will
be the same. Hence we perform only a few stanzas without repetition of gestures.
c. Due to the above reasons, people think that the child is performing only half the item which is a misconception.
