Check out what’s going on in our classes at the Jayanagar branch. Youth wing dancer and tutor Namitha Rao gives an insight.

Being an instructor for Nritarutya’s community classes at the Jayanagar branch has been a very enriching experience for me personally . It provides me an opportunity to interact and work with students from diverse backgrounds . Different students come in with different expectations . Some of them come for fitness training,some to explore a different form of movement and some others as a weekend fun activity. The classes are structured to cater to every group.

The classes at Nritarutya follow a pattern where we begin with warm up ,followed by technique training/body conditioning and wind up by creating a sequence.the warm up usually focuses on breathing,balance,alignment,stretches and understanding the body. Technique training covers basic movement techniques of contemporary dance as well as movements inspired from Indian classical forms. We often use imagery as a tool to explain the techniques to the students in a way that they can relate to the movement better. We also pay attention to the dynamism of the movements and emphasize on focus while moving. We include partner work sometimes to make the learning more interactive and interesting.

The last section of the class before the cool down is usually a sequence created which allows the students to apply the technique learnt in the session. Application of the technique learnt completes their understanding of the movement . Repetition has to be followed in an attempt to convert this understanding to muscle memory.
Being a trainer, I gain just as much as the students gain from the classes. It’s interesting to see how different individuals receive and perceive what’s taught in the class and this also increases my understanding of the movements when I have to sometimes explain it differently to some of the students making me a better dancer.

The company showcases the students twice a year which is a very nice platform for the students . Performing for an audience provides a whole new experience to them and also makes them more ambitious and confident as dancers.preparation for the showcase includes performance training where they are taught the importance of presentation of dance and management of space while dancing.have seen that working together for this has made us closer and stronger as a team.we have a lot on fun in the classes without compromising on the quality of training.These classes keeps us all more creatively engaged on the weekends and I look forward to it every week 🙂