On stage, she becomes a deer, a tree, a swan, and a bird, seamlessly transforming from one form to another with fluid footsteps and effortless grace. In her latest production 'Beeja – Earth Seed', Bharatanatyam exponent Malavika Sarukkai turns to non-human voices to narrate the story of the planet. Set to be performed today at Kamani Auditorium, the work is a commentary on human disruption of nature and the uncertain future of both humanity and Earth.
Nature and trees have long been central to Sarukkai’s choreography. She has earlier performed 'Ganga – Nitya Vaahini' (The Eternal River), where she embodied the river Ganga, and created a work in tribute to Saalumarada Thimmakka, the Karnataka environmentalist who planted over 385 banyan trees along a 4.5-kilometre stretch of highway between Hulikal and Kudur, in Ramanagara district. In this 75-minute solo, the protagonist and storyteller is a tree.
“Narratives are so often told only from the human perspective. I felt the need to give voice to those subaltern presences we never hear. We don’t know their stories, nor do we give them emotional agency,” she says, talking to us before her performance. For her, the tree is “the wise one” — reminding us of both the fragility of earth and humanity’s responsibility toward it.
'Beeja' is also a collaborative feat. Sarukkai has worked with her longtime creative partner Sumantra Ghoshal, who has written the script and is doing the narration, weaving in poetry. The production draws on classical compositions by V Rajkumar Bharati, with sound designer Sai Shravanam’s immersive surround soundscape. On stage, musicians Kritika Arvind (vocals) and Nellai Balaji (mridangam) are set to perform alongside the recorded score, while lighting by Niranjan Gokhale and costumes by Sandhya Raman complete the world of 'Beeja'.
Sarukkai is inspired by renowned British biologist David Attenborough’s environmental films. “Everything we do on this planet has to be responsible action. In the last 50 years, we have destroyed so much of this planet, for what we call progress,” she says. For her, 'Beeja' is not art for art’s sake but a provocation — a call to audiences to pause, reflect, and reconsider their place on earth.
Five decades of dance
Born in 1959, Sarukkai hails from Tamil Nadu, where she began learning Bharatanatyam at the age of seven, training under Kalyanasundaram Pillai of the Thanjavur bani and Rajaratnam of the Vazhuvoor bani, and later studying Odissi with guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. With over five decades of dance behind her, her passion never waned. “Dance itself is exciting. Every day something new happens — a nuance I didn’t see before, a freshness in rehearsal,” she says. For her, what sustains the art is not repetition but discovery: “I don’t want to imitate what I did yesterday.”
Much of her dedication was shaped by her mother, Saroja Kamakshi — her first teacher, lifelong companion in dance, and spiritual guide. “She was the force in my life,” Sarukkai recalls. “She always spoke of a bigger vision — that dance is not just about I, me, myself, but about the spirit of dance.” After her mother’s passing in 2013, she had to, in her words, “find myself all over again.” She adds, “It was very tough because she was everything in my life.” Even today, she says, her presence anchors her practice: “Her spirit lives in my dance.”
Giving back to dance
Two years after her mother’s passing, Sarukkai established the Kalavaahini trust in 2015. Marking its 10th anniversary this year, she reflects: “I respect tradition and the classical arts deeply, and I felt I had to give back [to the world of dance].” What began as a modest initiative soon grew into a vibrant platform. Kalavaahini now runs the annual ‘Dance for Dance’ festival in Chennai, which showcases emerging and established artists across Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Kathak, Kuchipudi, Mohiniyattam, and Koodiyattam, along with intensive immersion programmes, fellowships, scholarships, and curated evenings.
At the heart of the Kalavaahini is mentorship. Sarukkai strives to create “safe, non-hierarchical spaces” where dancers can explore choreography without the weight of performance metrics or popularity. Her concerns extend to the very future of classical dance. “We need more serious work in classical dance. We don’t need more entertainment — the world already has plenty of that.”
Guided by her mother’s philosophy of “dance as spirit, not self”, Sarukkai continues to create, perform, and mentor. “Classical dance has the ability to take you meaningfully somewhere. When that is possible, why not follow it? We can raise the bar of what people think about dance.”
In an age of distraction and instant gratification, she worries about the easy lure of the “cosmetic” but insists that serious commitment can transform an artist. “If dancers push themselves harder, they will discover new depths. Isn’t that exciting, to discover yourself?”
Malavika Sarukkai will present ‘Beeja – Earth Seed’ at Kamani Auditorium, Mandi House, today at 7.30 pm.
This article is written by Adithi Reena Ajith