Yashashvini Jindal, daughter of renowned Kuchipudi Dancer Shallu Jindal, presented her first solo show where she depicted the dashavatar of lord Vishnu

 She is the daughter of renowned classical dancer Shallu Jindal and student of Padma Bhushan Raja Radha Reddy and Kaushalya Reddy. At a very young age, Yashaswini Jindal was honoured with the coveted award, Indian Council of United Nations Relations (ICUNR) in the category of “Dance”. Jindal is an elegant and graceful danseuse for whom dance is a form of meditation that has enabled her to commence her spiritual journey. learning this form of dance has been her calling for the past eight years, and it is something she is truly passionate about.

She started training in Kuchipudi dance form at the age of eight and now it has been eight years since when she has started learning. According to her, dance  has enabled her to become more self-confident, focussed, disciplined and attain rhythm and values of equanimity in life. Yashasvini hopes to attain higher levels of excellence in this form of dance through practice and perseverance leading to perfection.

For Jindal, music has always been a very passionate activity that has kept her in good stead all these years. It has helped her relax and develop a sense of inner connectedness. When she was asked about the things that she would like to adopt from her mother, she said, “Her hard-work, discipline, expressions and dedication to promote classical arts.”

Here are the few excerpts from the conversation:

What or whom has been your inspiration to learn a classical dance form and whyIJ

I started learning dance at the age of around 8, after watching one of my mom’s dance recitals. At that moment, I knew that I wanted to dance just like her one day and decided to follow in her footsteps.

At such a young age, you had an opportunity of receiving an award in the category of dance by the Indian Council of United Nation Relations. How did you feel about itIJ

Extremely motivating and encouraging I believe any award or recognition encourages and inspires to give my best to work harder.

Before this, you have performed with your mother and your gurus. This is your first solo performance. So, are you nervousIJ

Yes, I am going through a lot of emotions, nervousness, jitters, last minute preparations, and butterflies in my stomach. I am kind of overwhelmed and exhilarated both at the same time.

What story did you depict through your performanceIJ

I started with my Rangaprvesham with an invocation to lord Venkateshwara followed by Dashavataram where I depicted the 10 avatars of lord Vishnu. Then I performed Kuchipudi which is beautifully choreographed by my guru Padam bhushan Raja Reddy on an urdu Sufi song— Chaap Tilak Sab Cheeni - a composition of Amir Khusro, a 14th century Sufi mystic. It was followed by Tillana, which is a composition of Balamurali Krishna and in the finale, the trangam on the thaali where the dancer is stands on the rims of the brass plate, the dancer’s soul loses its contact with the materialist world and is in harmony with the eternal power. This is the union of the atma with the parmatma. Kuchipudi is dance drama of nritta, nritya, and natya. The nritta consist of teermanams and jatis, the nritya of Shabdam and the natya of acting with mudras for the songs. My Rangapravesham is an amalgamation of all these.