Dentist by profession, dancer by instinct

For this dentist, life has more to it than just looking at teeth and looking after home.

She is Dr Raksha Karthik, an exponent of Vazhavur style of Bharatnatyam and a resident of Koramangala 3rd Block. Dr Raksha started learning dancing at the tender age of seven and has been trained in the advance forms of Abhinaya or the expressional techniques in Indian dance by Guru Bhanumathi at Nritya Kala Mandiram.
After learning dance and teaching it to regular children, teaching visually impaired kids beckoned to her as a perfect platform for community service and hence she regularly teaches them classical dance.

An appetite for life
"Being a Consultant Dental Surgeon keeps me on my toes for most of the week. But my appetite for life is not satiated with just looking at teeth," she says. "My love for classical dance makes me go further than just being a Consultant Dental Surgeon and, therefore, I decided to teach dance. I am a classical dancer for the last 23 years, but then I decided that I should share my art with people. My day starts early and ends late, but I enjoy each minute of it," she says.
"I look at dance as a river that flows through the hills and mountains, a river which inputs anything as it flows through the moors at times not flowing but also forming a little pond and still evoking the nature… As a performing artiste, my concern is how I can extend this great art form to the water that stagnates at the moors and thus making the specially-abled who could be visually impaired or verbally impaired or both hearing and verbal impaired or simply underprivileged to teach this great ritual," she says.

Life not monotonous
"My Life has never been monotonous, because I decided to make it an adventure, Yes - "Dance is a celebration of everything that happens in the universe," she adds.
Dr Raksha has performed in India and abroad and has given many solo performances at various dance festivals. Besides she has won a number of awards and recognitions. Some of her performances were at Hampi Utsava, Bangalore University Decennial celebration, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences Decennial Festival, Doordarshan Golden Jubilee Anniversary, International conference on Horticulture, Indian Institute of World Culture, Doctors' day celebration at Vaidya Kala Ranga, Hassan Dance Festival, Chitradurga Dance Festival, Brahmotsavam ISKCON, Janmashtami ISKCON Zurich, Switzerland; Onam, Geneva, Switzerland; Nrityabharati Festival, Ahmedabad; Art India, Bern, Switzerland; AKKA, USA; Indian American embassy New York; Sri Krishna Brundavanam, LA; Ashland temple, Boston; Narayani Peetam, Vellore; Mysore Dasara; Nadoja Prashasthi Utsava; Konark dance festival; Mysore Dasara Utsava and Raj Bhavan Bangalore.
She even does ballets. They are: Ashtadikpalaka Vandana from Bharatanatya Shastra, Dashavatara, Krishna Darshanam, Krishna Kubja, Kavya Bhagina (songs of famous Kannada poets), Prakruthi Samskruthi (relating to the five seasons), Raasa Leela, Ramayanam and Shivam Shankaram.

Her performances
Dr Raksha has performed in India and abroad and has given many solo performances at various dance festivals. Besides she has won a number of awards and recognitions. She even does ballets. Besides she also performs folk arts like Kolata, Dollukuintha, Kamsale, Veeraghase, Patada kunitha and Cheraw (Bamboo dance).

--AKSHAYA DEVA