Institutions such as the Bharathakalai School of Dance help preserve, promote, and maintain the culture of the Indian sub-continent through the visual and performing arts. The First Parish Church of Bedford was awash with bright colors and the enchanting sounds of paayal last Saturday as Jayshree Bala Rajamani and the students Of Bharathakali School of Dance prepared to begin the Spring Dance Recital.

An enchanting afternoon of dance followed with the master and her students taking the stage and captivating an appreciative audience. Jayshree's introduction preceded each item, making it easier for the lay person to grasp the essence and meaning of the words and Mudras(or hand gestures).

Jayshree's intimate approach showed direct and accessible expression, and featured improvisation. Portraying the sense of losing oneself in spiritual ecstasy, or yearning for one's god/lover, the narrative portions of the concert were executed with finesse. Interpreting rasas and sentiments or presenting pure Nritta, the performance by the students and teacher of Bharathakalai School of dance were commendable in disposition of limbs, stances, statuesque poses and crisp footwork.

Bharatanatyam consists of both nritta, "pure" dance of abstract movements, and abhinaya, narrative, mimetic dance that conveys a story or emotions. Jayshree's brilliance in choreographic skill was apparent in the design and synchronization of movements. While staying well within the hoary traditions of this ancient form of art, Jayshree has managed to add a new and interesting dimension to it.

The items presented were Anjali, Natesha Kautwam,Ganesha Kautwam, Alarippu, Shabdam, Padam, Thillana and Mangalam.

The performers included Jasleen Ashta, Shilpa Bhat, Sheela Devdas, Ambika Jayakumar, Pia Kochar, Ephrahti Lafleur, Meyya Muthu, Shambhavi Ranjan, Anooshka Srivatsav, Anjali Thomke, Ranya Virk,Shabina Wigneswaran, Sandhya Narayanan, Shweta Nanvati, Varsha Bal Mahale, Sharayu Mahale, Meera Santhamurthy, Nivedha Sureshkumar, Divya Manoharan, Kruti Ravaliya, Preeti Ravaliya and Jayshree Bala Rajamani.

Even though Bharathanatyam has been classified as a rigid dance form that has to follow a set standard of rules and you cannot go beyond that, it is really not true. With maturity and experience, you realize that you do have the flexibility within these rules to bend and create something new. As artists we are constantly doing that and so far whatever I have done have been received very well", Says lovely and eloquent Jayshree Bala Rajamani, explaining the creativity and relevance of the dance style in today's world.

As the founder of the BharathaKalai School of Dance in Lexington, Jayshree has more than 30 students learning the Tanjavur style of Bharathanatyam.Her own training came under the tutelage of Guru Govind Rajan. "When I was three, we moved to England and for 7 years, my Guru would travel every year for two months to teach my sister and myself. My mother who is a dancer herself from the Raja Rajeshwari school in Bombay laid the rules and in retrospect, I know she deserves credit as much as my guru for where I am today. For a long time, I watched my older sister dance and mimicked her but soon was able to pick up the nuances. I had my Arangetram at the age of 11 and to me it seemed an exciting event at that time, to be the centre of attraction. It is only at 13, that I started taking it seriously. Guru Govind maama and my mother would share stories and encouraged me to acquire more knowledge in the nitty gritty of dance."

"In 1987, I founded my school in New Delhi with just 3 kids in the beginning. It did very well and I am thankful to my guru who allowed me the freedom to choreograph which is often rare in the world of dance. I have built my own personal stamp in the process. At the Arangetram of two of my students, I took a Gujarati Bhajan and with the help of Tara Anand, built it into a Shabdam. Another student Divya, wanted a Saraswati slokam and I worked with Durga Krishnan with the music and choreographed a piece".

"Dance to me is a two way stream, never one way, where the audience is supposed to interact at the subliminal level with the dancer. I have always been conscious about this fact. It is very important for all of us dancers to create a message in our pieces at a contemporary level.. Even though this is about mythology, the human emotions and the stories are related to day to day events and therein lay its appeal".

"When I teach, I try to instill in my students, the need to persevere and not give up. Bharatanatyam requires self will, self discipline, self determination, technique and stamina and that can be acquired only over a period of time. The Arangetram is the culmination of this process and to me the perfection and the grandeur of the occasion come not from the event but from the actual performance of the dancer. Nothing should take away from that".

I steer Jayashree away from dance to her other great passion Filmmaking. “What I have enjoyed most about filmmaking is that it is yet another creative outlet for me and that is one reason why I enrolled in the film school- The Mass Communication research center that is an intensive two year Master’s program in Delhi. I specialized as a Shooter or a cinematographer that was almost a male domain at that time”, she elucidates” because of the heaviness of the equipment” but it was this exact stereotypical arguments that motivated me to enter this field. I did very well and I have produced a few films that I have totally enjoyed.

Some of her award winning films include "A part of the Community",a film about the outreach and rehabilitation of homeless people in Boston,by the Pine Street Inn, a homeless shelter. Another film that was nominated for a New England Emmy award was a film on Indian Classical dance and Neena Gulati that was produced, edited and partly shot by her. It was aired on WGBH's Greater Boston's Art Show. Says Jayshree of this experience, "I really enjoyed doing this because for the first time I could bring together , my love for dance and film in one common platform".

Other films include,'A fragile freedom: African American Sites, a one hour film edited by her for the History Channel for Black History month which premiered in February 2002 and rebroadcast in February 2003. A film on the lives of street performers in Boston "From the Streets" was aired nationally on Cable access as a part of a festival of independant films. " A symphony of Fire and Water" a film on the Geysers of Yellow Stone National Park was another film, "which was interesting " says Jayshree, "since it had a lot of graphics and animation". She is presently involved in shooting a film on a young college graduate who is training to be a Hindu priest".

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