A total of 15 children from GIIS Smart Campus Balewadi took part in the Spic MACAY Bharatnatyam workshop, which took place from October 10 to 14, under the guidance of Guruji V.P Dhananjayan (Padma Bhushan).

Students from Tokyo, Malaysia, Bangalore, and Pune connected through the virtual platform with Guruji V.P Dhananjayan, who is based in Chennai.

The host institution for this workshop was Global Indian International School, Tokyo, Japan.

The last day witnessed a performance by GIIS Balewadi students under the guidance of Guruji. 

They started their morning session chanting Sanskrit shlokas, understanding their meaning and uses of hand gestures in our real life.

The gurukul teachings which they got in these five days, has been a great learning experience for every participant.

Priti Laud, the parent of Kavya was thankful that her daughter got this wonderful opportunity. "She enjoyed the session. She liked the dance form so much that she is now asking us to enroll her for Bharatnatyam classes. A big thanks for this great opportunity and imbibing the interest in Kavya," she said. 

Another parent Payal Mishra said "My daughter (Diya Mishra) took part in Bharatnatyam for the first time and we enjoyed it a lot. It's a very graceful dance.  All trainers were very kind, dedicated and perfect in their work. We are very proud and glad that we got this opportunity and became part of this journey. We are looking forward to more opportunities like this in the future.”

Speaking about her experience, Gayatri Sangamkar from Grade 10 A said "It was a great pleasure to learn from Shri VP Dhananjayan and Shrimati Shanta Dhanajayan and their assistants Shobana akka and Srinivasan anna. I personally learn Bharatanatyam. Spic MACAY made me fall in love with Bharatanatyam more and the workshop was fantastic. In these five days, I learnt so many things not only related to Bharatanatyam but everything, in general. To learn from these great artists was a wonderful opportunity. I would like to thank SPIC MACAY for conducting such workshops. Looking forward to learning more from SPIC MACAY.”

Dnyanada Adhangale from Grade 5B chipped in saying “It was a great experience with the SPIC MACAY team. I not only learned about Bharatnatyam but learned many other things from Guruji and the whole team. It was a great pleasure to learn from such experienced personalities. Only saying thank you will not be enough. I am really thankful to my school and my teacher for giving me such a wonderful opportunity. I would like to join it again.”

The students from GIIS Balewadi who participated in the workshop include Gayatri Sangamkar, Diya Mishra, Naisha Sanal, S Vidya, Sparsh Rajiv Kotgire, Srushti Rajiv Kotgire, Chitrakshi Raina, Riyansha Suthar, Pritika Srivastava, Aanya Vyas, Dnyanada Adhangale, Suhani Chourasia, Pankti R Joshi, Nitya Laod and Vaishnavi KS.