Now, it is an established and reputed residential school for the visually Workers T V Srinivasan and Thirumurthy in a single room of the former's house with an initial capital of just The Ramana Maharishi Academy for the Blind in Bangalore. Gowda, Ramudu and the others in their troupe, like Satish and Guruprasad, were school students at But their friend Shivaswamy has been blind since his birth. Irreparably damaged when he was just five years old. Tharaka Ramudu, who lives with his parents in Bangalore, was not born blind either. He was treated with some herbs for this, and lost his eyesight as a consequence. Mandya district, the home district of Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna, when he was barely seven years Gowda fell into a slush pit in his village in Troupe's star performers, who goes by the stage name of Mayura. 'I never ever imagined I would be a professional dancer some day,' says Buse Gowda, 27, one of the The individual is helped by setting up an STD booth or starting some other business like a travel agency or weaving mill. Goes towards making one fully trained dancer financially independent. While they try to study or find means of livelihood in the city. And that is to raise moneyįor a hostel for the blind, so that young people like his students can have a place to stay Now, Kumar, who makes a living as a dance teacher for the sighted, and runs his own dance school with about 75 students in Bangalore, has set himself his next target. The troupe has done over 500 shows all over the world. They also supplement it with other avenues of selfĮmployment that Kumar has made possible for them. Performers, and make a living out of this art. Its members have managed to achieve what most classical dancers dream of. Yet, thanks to their guru K Ashok Kumar, Natyanjali stages dance recitals all over the world, and The eight dancers of the Natyanjali dance troupe are all severely visually challenged, and rely almost entirely on their hearing to Only, they are a little more noisy when they thump their feet, and with good reason. Their dance movements are as graceful and synchronised as those of most other Bharatanatyam troupes. M D Riti on an unusual dance school in Bangalore. Special: M D Riti on an unusual dance school in Bangalore

Bharatanatyam dancers in bangalore