Meet Seema Viswanath | Dancer | Choreographer | Educator | Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Seema Viswanath and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Seema, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I am from southern part of India from a very rich heritage city called ‘Mysore’ in Karnataka. India is a land of diversity. Every state has its own flavor. Similarly Mysore is famous for its arts & culture. I have grown up listening to classical music, watching dance, plays every single day. My dad was a national recognized theater artist. He was well known for his backstage work where he could use useless things to convert into gorgeous sets on stage. Being with him it exposed me to theater at a very early stage of my childhood. It’s very common in south India for girls to learn classical music and dance. My sister was going to Bharatanatyam class which is one of the famous Indian classical dances and then I just joined along with her when I was 11 year old. Thats when my classical dance journey began. Now it’s been 25+ years since then it has been a part of my living. For some reason nothing seemed important than dance. It became a focal point. I was adjusting everything around it. Let it be my school classes, music class, family occasions, friends and so on.

My dad was a very simple, honest and an innocent person. His sincerity, hard working nature has influenced me a lot. One of my great source of inspiration is my teacher Guru.Nandini Eswer, Mysore. She is my light. She showed the path for me to explore in the field of dance in turn in my life. She showed me the path as how to live in this life through dance. She introduced what is being spiritual amongst this materialistic life? It’s difficult to walk in this path but this is the right path and satisfying one. Principles, values, ethics takes the at most importance than any temptations. The duty comes first. These lessons have given me immense confidence, braveness to face the world, to be myself and to keep my foot strong in my art life in spite of all the unnecessary demands, diversions even being away from the place where I grew up.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am an Indian classical dancer. There are eight Indian classical dances. I practice two forms that is Bharatanatyam and Kathak. Bharatanatyam is from south India and Kathak is from north India. Each art form is like an ocean to explore. In orthodox Indian context learning two forms was not encouraged few decades ago. But that is what written in my fate.

I started my journey with Bharatanatyam. I completed my dance proficiency exams before I completed my graduation ( undergrad in USA). Then I moved to Bangalore to work at Dell. That’s when I started learning Kathak. I did not want to go to any other teacher for Bharatanatyam. I was very attached and drawn towards the way of my teacher’s teaching. Hence I started traveling to Mysore which was 3 hrs aways from Bangalore every weekend for straight 9 years. I remember missing 15 – 20 weekend because of some exams going to Mysore. Otherwise every weekend I used to be at Mysore.

I loved Kathak as I loved Bharatanatyam. Both the dances have quite a bit of opposite body language. It was very difficult initially to switch from one form to the other. I used to get scoldings from both the teachers that I am mixing both the forms. Then gradually I started understanding the differences and treat each movement as a learning. I had to codify it in my mind. Once again my teaches Guru.Nandini Eswer used to dance 4 forms at her times and she taught me how to switch. It demanded quite a bit of focus and practice with awareness to master the technique of each dance form without effecting each other. This is still challenging and quite a task all the time not to mix up things.

I am very grateful and excited that I have got two lenses, that is two perspectives/tools to understand these arts. Dance is a culmination of literature, music, rhythm and along with that costume designing, choreographing, light designing, networking, admin work and what not? One dance form has opened me up into many other skill sets. Dance is a way of living for me. It has taught me work is worship and to treat everyone with respect. I am very proud of that.

I have learnt that you have to be like an eye which is in the middle of a tornado. Eye is very calm even though everything around it is chaos. To be ourselves and to keep our work going on without any disturbance in everyday’s mundane activities, family chaos of this world, one need to be aware from inside what they are made off? The thought of what is the purpose of this life? Why am I here? answers everyday ongoings. So instead of getting carried away with what others are doing, I would say just look at you and your work and keep it going. It will reach somewhere and heart will know, where?

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my friend is an artist then I would love to go to museums, art gallery around. I liked Philadelphia’s museum, Washington DC, New York, even SFO with so much of history and monuments first three days. To hang out I prefer nature parks. Also to experience the beauty of trails, the sound of nature and to experience the silence there. My got to is Mexican restaurant and Subway sandwiches. I like to be little adverterous like doing zip-lining in Asheville, parasailing would be amazing. At last to be at home, stretch our legs and recollect our old memories and laugh at it 🙂

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
All the credits of what I am today goes to my teachers and parents. I am blessed with many teachers in my life. My teacher ‘Guru.Nandini Eswer’ and her son ‘Dr. Rohitha Eswer’ who have been constantly grooming be since my childhood as their own family. Also Lt.Guru.Dr.Maya Rao, Lt.Guru.Munna Shukla and Pandit.Divyang Vakil have guided my life with their teachings. My father ‘lt.K Viswanath’ and mother ‘Sathya Prema’ have been a great source of encouragement. Last but not the least my spouse, Avil Dsouza who is being my back bone and having me at it. Without all of them I can not imagine where I stand now.

Website: https://www.nrityamayananda.com/

Instagram: @seemakv1

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SeemaViswanatha/

Other: https://linktr.ee/SeemaViswanath

Image Credits
Arun Kumar Avil Dsouza Mahan Rao