Shakti Arun

“In art you are taught to accept and in science to always question. I think it is very important for us to question many things about dance as well.”
— V Madhurima

Get to know me

I am high school senior at Norton High School with a love for science and a passion for dance.

I started my dance journey by learning ballet and tap at 3 years old and graduated to Bharatanatyam at 5 years old with Guru Vyju Prasad at Noopur Nritya Academy (NNA). For me Bharatanatayam is not only a dance form but a way of life that helps me navigate daily life with grace and purpose. It enriches my life, connects me with others, and preserves my cultural heritage. I love that I can play different characters in each dance and tell the story of those characters with their idiosyncrasies.

Science helps me decode the complex surroundings around me, for example the inner workings of an atom. It is similar to solving a puzzle or a problem in math. Always in the process of being refined, I have learned to appreciate the importance of my own insignificant amount of knowledge and discernment.

Dance and science use many of the same cognitive processes, such as anticipation, prediction, problem solving, planning, and pattern recognition. I appreciate the interaction between dance and science and hope to combine them in my future as medical professional. 

I love to read, embroider, doodle, and watch sit-coms such as Big Bang Theory, Friends, How I met your mother, etc.

My Summer internship

Bridge Undergraduate Science Jr. (BUGS Jr.) is an immersive summer research program offered by University of Southern California for High School students. I was honored to be selected for this program. I had the privilege of interning in the Intestinal stem cell research lab of Dr. Unmesh Jadhav.

Under the tutelage of my Principal Investigator, Dr. Jadhav my research was based on Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) which is a protein complex that plays a role in regulating the colon. PRC2 is made of Suz12, Eed and Ezh2 proteins. In the complex, Ezh2 uses the methylation (H3K27me) to repress genes, while Eed holds the complex together on the DNA. To evaluate how Eed functions to repress unnecessary genes in the colon and ileum, I deleted the Eed gene and studied its effects on the colon and small intestine. I observed that the phenotypes of the intestines were altered and for the colon were partially altered. The results and the conclusions were presented in a poster at the end of summer. The poster is linked here.

Teaching

I teach Math and Reading at Kumon from ages 4- 15. I particularly enjoy teaching pre-school and elementary aged children because I love the infectious energy that they bring and which they expect me to match. In addition, they are adorable and leave me splits with their unique sense of humor.

I am a Bharatanatyam Instructor at NNA (my dance school). I am passionate about teaching my culture to the next generation. It is also extremely gratifying to see the progression of the dancer from a novice to acquiring a new skill.

My resume is linked here.

What is Bharatanatyam?

Bharatanatyam is one of the oldest classical dance forms that originated in the temples of Tamil Nadu in South India. The word Bharatanatyam is derived from “Bhavam” which means expression, “ragam” which means music, “talam” which means rhythm and “natyam” which means dance. This dance has been codified by Sage Bharata Muni in Natya Shastra, which is an ancient Indian Sanskrit treatise on the performing arts including theatre, dance and music.

One of signature dance stance in Bharatanatyam is characterized by Aramandi or Ardhamandala, a position similar to a plié in ballet (knee bend position). In Bharatanatyam, the Aramandi position is combined with intricate footwork, expressive hand gestures and elaborate facial expressions used in storytelling.

Bharatanatyam involves 3 aspects to dance; Nritta, Nritya and Natya.

Nritta is a pure dance without any emotions or expressions. It involves rhythmic dance were movements of the body do not convey any mood or meaning.

Natya means dramatic representation or drama with speech, music and dancing. Natya is combination of Nritta & Nritya.

Nritya involves emotions and expressions, where the lyrics of the song are conveyed using hand gestures (hasta mudras) and facial expressions (abhinaya).

My Guru

My Guru is Vyju Prasad and I fondly call her Vyju auntie. She started her lifelong relationship with Bharatnatyam at the age of 4 under the guidance of Guru Choodamani Rao in Mysore style. Her first stage performance at the age of 6 was extremely memorable where she danced an Alaripu, Krishna nee begane baaro in a group and a solo, Nadarmudi Meliarrukkum also popularly known as a snake dance winning the hearts of all. Vyju auntie continued to train and perform extensively throughout Southern India with Choodamani Auntie until she was 10. Later her training continued under Guru Padma Thangavel with whom she performed locally in Bangalore and in various places in Southern India. During this time Vyju auntie passed the Karnataka State Board Exams for Junior and Senior as a building block to her learning. Vyju started training with Guru Vasundhara Sampathkumar in the Pandanallur style in her college years. She continued to perform locally and focused on growing as a dancer. Vyju auntie performed her Arangetram under Vasundhara Aunty. She started teaching Bharatnatyam at the age of 16 in India and continues to teach dancers of all ages under the banner of Noopur Nritya Academy. Vyju auntie has continued performing with various local dancers and continued her dance education under Guru Padmini Ravi.

What is Arangetram?

Arangetram is a Sanskrit word that literally translates to “ascending the stage.” In Bharatanatyam, it refers to the debut performance of a dancer, marking the completion of their training and the beginning of their career as a professional dancer.

I performed my Arangetram in August 2023. A trailer of my Arangetram is linked here and full length video is linked here.