Becoming a professional Bharatanatyam dancer at the age of 61 and performing on over 125 public stages is no ordinary accomplishment. Yes, Gayathri Vijayalekshmi, a retired college professor from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, is living life to the fullest after reigniting her childhood passion for classical dance following her retirement from the Electrical & Electronics Engineering Department at TKM College of Engineering, Kollam, in 2018.
What’s more, she even became the first woman to perform Bharathanatyam at Sabarimala Sreedharma Sastha Temple. Although dancing has been her passion since childhood, Gayathri Vijayaleskhmi had to set aside this passion when she joined as a lecturer at the college in 1986.
“I never thought that I would return to classical dancing. The 2015 batch of students in the college compelled me to perform a dance at a college function, and that brought me back into dancing,” Gayathri Vijayalekshmi told “Open Digest.”
At the age of 52, she began training under her guru V Mydhili, who had taught her dance in her youth. On May 19, 2019, she performed a one-and-a-half-hour solo dance at the Vyloppilly Samridhi Bhavan, and invitations started pouring in from various corners. She got the opportunity to do performances on over 125 public stages and 18 online platforms.
“I performed my 100th dance recital at Sabarimala. It was a one-hour performance,” she said. She also received an appreciation award from the Limca Book of Records for the Bharathanatyam performance at Sabarimala.
“I want to dance as long as I can,” she said, adding that her family and friends are providing her with unwavering support.
Happy for you madam – keep going – great effort.