:: Culture Plus

Indian fits in a Spanish caravan

By Ipsitaa Panigrahi

Life has been a roller-coaster ride for this multicultural and multi-faceted danseuse. A Tamilian born in Holland and studied in Spain and India, she is truly a global citizen in every sense. Sharmini Tharmaratnam, a Kathak and Flamenco dancer, has carved a niche for herself in the field of dance by creating a unique fusion of Kathak and Flamenco. Her fusion makes a statement as she fuses Kathak into Flamenco beats and vice versa.

Dancing was always a part of Sharmini’s life ever since she was five years old. She had a natural inclination towards Indian classical grace and dance. "My cousins from England would come home to Holland every summer and show me their dancing skills as they were learning Bharatnatyam," says Sharmini. She remembers that there was an instant attraction and connection with the form and although she wanted to learn it, there was no one in Holland teaching the art. She was also drawn to jazz, contemporary dancing and western classical ballet at a tender age and had begun taking lessons in them. Learning Sarangi from Ustad Munir Ahmed Khan much later in life triggered the Indian connection.

She went to Spain for further studies after receiving a grant to study about the gypsies of Spain who had a lot of Indianness in them and how they still managed to retain the culture. It was here that she learnt about Flamenco which could be possibly categorised into a folk form. She also formed a group Korathi (Kurathiattam, a traditional folk dance form from South India) with gypsy musicians she had met during the shooting of Pedro Almodovar’s movie The Flower Of My Secret. She landed in India in 1996 and began her training in Kathak from Rajendra Gangani from the Jaipur Gharana. "He is the one who actually encouraged me to go ahead and blend the two forms of Kathak and Flamenco," says Sharmini.

The blend came about as there were no Indian musicians in Spain and the idea to dance Kathak to Flamenco beats just seemed unique and extremely creative. This, of course, later went on to give her the identity. "There are a lot of mathematical calculations with permutation and combination to accommodate the steps into the Flamenco beats as there is hardly any similarity between Hindustani and flamenco music," explains Sharmini. And this fusion opened doors to many opportunities and acted as bridge between cultures of India and Spain.

She says, "People in Spain weren’t exactly open to different cultures and other various forms of art. With this fusion they could identify and connect as the music was their’s and the dance form was something new which got them curious and interested." Later she also fused Flamenco with Kathak beats for the Indian audience.

One of the most important aspects of Sharmini’s dance is that she has beautifully managed to retain the essence of both , Kathak and Flamenco. Ask her about which of the two is dearer and greater and pat comes the reply. "It is really difficult to compare the two but Kathak being a classical dance form will require more than a lifetime to master whereas for Flamenco one lifetime is quite sufficient. Over the years having been in India and teaching, Kathak is something I identify more with," says Sharmini.