About Sitrawatie

I am of Indian descent, born in Suriname, and moved to the Netherlands at the age of twelve. My journey in Indian classical dance began when I was sixteen.

My first introduction to Indian dance

At sixteen, I began studying Kathak with Mrs A. Steenhuis, a Dutch ballet dancer who had trained in Kathak. Her warm personality and enthusiasm for dance made those first years a very special period for me.

A few years later, I made the transition to Bharatanatyam and began studying with my teacher Smt. Chandrika Sundararaman. In 1986, I performed my arangetram under her guidance, together with Giesla Jagmohan. Afterwards, Giesla and I gave many performances together.

It was a very different time. There were still only a small number of Bharatanatyam teachers and dancers in the Netherlands.

In that same year, 1986, I founded Sri Vinayaka. Alongside my own development as a dancer, I began passing on the art form to students.

My journey to India

In the years that followed, I travelled regularly to India to deepen my training.

Saskia Kersenboom played an important role in helping me find my direction within Bharatanatyam. Through her, I found the right teachers within the Kanchipuram Ellappa Mudaliar Bani and developed a deeper understanding of the different styles within Bharatanatyam.

Within this Bani, I studied in India with Smt. Lakshmi Vishwanathan, Sri M.D. Venkatesh and Smt. Geeta Narayanan. I also studied with Smt. Padmini Rao, among others.

My training in India was not limited to dance. I also studied dance theory, nattuvangam, vocal music and veena. Through this, I came to understand Bharatanatyam increasingly as an art form in which dance, music, rhythm, knowledge and expression are interconnected.

Sri Vinayaka

Since the foundation of Sri Vinayaka, the Bharatanatyam world in the Netherlands has changed considerably. Where there were once only a small number of teachers and dancers, there are now many more dance schools and artists.

Within this changing environment, I remain close to my own artistic foundation: the quality of my training and my commitment to my teachers and the tradition in which I was trained.

Between India and the Netherlands

Through my regular visits to India, I have come to understand the differences between the way Bharatanatyam is taught there and the teaching environment in the Netherlands.

I seek a balance between the Indian and Dutch contexts, drawing on the valuable aspects of both.

In my teaching, I also draw on my own experience as a dancer: how I learned movements, how I experienced them physically and how I performed them. My training in didactics has helped me look at this learning process with greater awareness.

The classical tradition remains the foundation, while the way knowledge is passed on should also take into account the student and the environment in which they are learning.

Continuing to develop

I continue to work on new initiatives and developments.

Together with other dance schools, I helped initiate dance examinations in the Netherlands. Students of Sri Vinayaka have also taken examinations in India, and I have guided students who performed their arangetram in India.

An important source of support is my teacher Vidwan S.V. Giridhara in India, with whom I have worked for more than thirty years. I can turn to him for advice, knowledge and support.

Drawing on my many years of teaching experience, I am currently also writing a book about my experiences teaching Bharatanatyam.