Geetha Poojitha Bandhuvala

Dancing is not my passion; it is my religion, and my family says I started dancing even before I started walking.  It was a regular day and like always, I went to a nearby temple with my parents. There I saw a pretty lady who was lost in a song and was dancing beautifully to its tune. I was mesmerized to see her and showed interest in learning how to dance to my parents. My parents supported my wish and enrolled me immediately.  I was 7 years old when I started to learn how to dance and since then, there is no looking back. All my Monday and Friday evenings were spent only in the dance class. Dancing became a part of my routine and not a single day passed, when I didn’t practice dancing. My dance teacher, Smt. Sundari Ravichandra is a very sweet lady and who was always thoughtful, patient and compassionate, just  because of her I could understand the language of dance and slowly started to enjoy the nuances of it.

I was raised up in a joint family in Sainikpuri, Hyderabad and my childhood was spent with lots of cousins and neighborhood kids. I never missed the chance to dance, be it a function in society or performing infront of our guests, visiting our home.  My entire schooling was from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and with the encouragement from teachers and friends, I used to participate in school programmes and competitions. Back then it was quite easy to manage studies with dance but with higher classes, it was getting difficult for me to even practice dance once a week.

There were many competitions I have participated in, but there is one particular show which will always be special to me. This competition was at Tirumala in Tirupati, organized by the World Military Games. It was in the year 2012 and just before 2 days of the competition we were informed about it.  And just as luck would have it, we even had our annual examinations going on. It was a very tough task to manage both exams and dance practice, yet I excelled in both, and to my utter surprise, I topped the annual exam.

I had to move to Vishakhapatnam for my higher studies in 2014 but my love for dance followed along. I participated in numerous competitions conducted by ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations) and won many prizes and scholarships.  I got chances to perform all over India and it was really fun and exciting to meet new people who had the same love and passion for dance.

There were many days when I thought of leaving dance but how can someone live without breathing. My parents were very supportive of me and always encouraged me to dance and follow my passion. It was their belief and love for me that I never stopped following the passion. Although it was really difficult to be a trained professional in Bharatnatyam, I was adamant not to give up. With the support of my parents and my dance teacher, I earned MA in Bharatnatyam from Hyderabad Central University in 2018.

I finished my engineering in 2018 and joined IBM as a graduate, hired soon after. With work pressure and daily travel for 3 hours, to and fro from office it was really difficult to take part in competitions and practice dancing.  I used to practice during weekends but really missed dancing during weekdays.  But as it’s a well-known fact you can’t keep people away from their passion for long, I too had to do something to continue my passion. With everyone’s blessing, I started my dance school in 2018 and have come a long way from  a dance lover to having 20 students who are crazy for dance.  In May 2021, I named my school “Meera School of Bharatanatyam” and got it officially registered. This is just the beginning of my dream and one day I plan to be a full-time dancer and inspire more students to follow their passion for dance.  Till then I will keep teaching my students and making them fall in love with dance again and again.

Total Work Experience : 3 Years (IBM India Pvt. Limited)