Aeshna Chandra raises funds at her Arangetram to build library for village girls

“A star danced, and under that was I born.”- William Shakespeare

On the bright summer day of Saturday, July 28, 2012, in a theater full of family and friends, and with a passion in heart for performing arts, music and dance, Aeshna Chandra ascended the stage to present her debut performance of the ancient Indian classical dance form Bharatnatyam. Through abstract and literal interpretations, Bharatanatyam is an offering to the gods, blending music, rhythm, and emotion to convey a deeper meaning to the dancer’s actions. Scientifically based, spiritually significant, and physically demanding, Bharatnatyam has evolved through thousands of years to survive as a revered art from. It is set to specific ragam (key) and talam (beat), which determines the mood and pace of the dance, and is a multi-faceted expressive art, where the dancer can utilize facial expressions, hand gestures, footwork, and body movement to demonstrate emotion and action. While Aeshna conveyed that exquisitely through her repertoire of diverse dances on her arangetram day, she also achieved something inspirational. She has successfully raised funds for building a library for high school girls in a remote village of India.

The evening kicked off with Aeshna's brother, Neil, who delivered opening remarks and emceed. Full of grace and beauty, Aeshna entered the stage for Pushpanjali, her first dance item, with an energy that enthralled the audience. Through the complex yet beautiful choreography, rhythmic footwork and the graceful hand movements, she engaged the audience with her astounding performance. The Pushpanjali flowed into the second piece Karpaga Vinayagane, a Ganesha Stuti, where she set the stage for the rest of the arangetram. Following her Stuti was Allarippu, a simple dance piece to bring out the focus for the performance ahead. Aeshna continued with Jatiswaram, a piece that defines the pace of the arangetram as it travels through different tempos of rhythmic sequence of pure dance. The central and most intricate piece from her repertoire was Varnam, a little over 30 minutes long piece that used complex footwork, graceful movements, and endless expressions to tell the stories of Lord Krishna through the eyes of a Gopi. Aeshna switched between using Nritta — technical dance, and Nritya — expressive dance, in a sequence of stories carrying the performance to a higher level. Her intricate choreography and her strength, power, grace and expressions mesmerized the audience thereby setting the tone for second half.

The second half of Aeshna's performance was as captivating to watch as the first; however, a complete change in the orchestra lineup divided the second half. While the second half began with dance pieces set in southern Indian style Carnatic classical music like Saraswati Slokam, a powerful Bho Shambho and Murugan Kavithuvam, the orchestra went through a change after the third dance piece of this segment, and a completely new lineup of musicians trained in northern Indian style Hindustani classical music joined her on the stage. For the rest of the evening, she captivated the audience with richly choreographed pieces set in Hindustani classical music like Shree Ramchandra Kripalu Bhajman and a Tarana composed by Pandit Ravi Shankar. By bringing two very different sets of live orchestras, the traditional Carnatic for the traditional dance form Bharatnatyam and the Hindustani classical to add a new dimension to the conventional arangetram format, she enriched everyone's experience that evening in the theater. Aeshna truly danced beyond the borders of convention on her arangetram. She finished the performance with a Managalam piece by offering prayers for cosmic peace and thanking gods, her guru, the orchestra and the audience. Aeshna's talent in this intricate dance form and her incredible stage presence culminated in a magnificent finale to her Arangetram.

The guru, Mrs. Veena Teli, founder of Tarangini Creations School of Dance in Sharon, Massachusetts, excels in taking inexperienced students, and inculcating in them a love for dance. Veena's heartwarming speech described Aeshna as a student who wanted to delve deeper into understanding this ancient dance form and reach beyond what seemed to be on surface. She commented that having Aeshna as a student inspired her to be a better teacher.

Preparation towards her arangetram brought Aeshna to visit India a year before her arangetram. While in India, she also spent some time, in particular, in village of Manoharpur in the northeastern India. There she witnessed the extreme difficulties that high school girls from Manoharpur and neighboring villages faced in their pursuit of education. Scarcity of resources such as textbooks, writing materials, etc., made Aeshna ponder on this issue which then led to Build A Library project. After much research on essential educational resources needed by these high school girls, Aeshna came up with a plan that required setting up of a village library, training library staff and providing financial support during its initial maintenance. She set out to work towards this project earlier this year. Encouraging words and generous contributions from family and friends around the world has further strengthened Aeshna's commitment to this project. While Aeshna is currently pursuing her high school education at Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts, she is also working towards doing her bit to help other high school girls reach their educational goals in remote villages of India.

Aeshna's tenacity to go through arduous training of Bharatnatyam dance form was unshakeable through nine years. Her unwavering resolve to see the Build A Library project to finish line is impressive and inspiring, and will undoubtedly, make a difference in the lives of many young girls of Manoharpur and neighboring villages.

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