Photo courtesy of Laya Raj and photos by Sophia Kim and Tiffany Xiao/The Choate News
Laya Raj ’24 has been dancing for as long as she can remember. She started dancing when she was just three years old, training in the South Indian dance form, Kuchipudi. “I lived in India until I was in third grade,” said Raj. “I was living with my grandparents at the time, so my grandmother would take me to dance classes every day. I moved to America permanently when I was in third grade, and since then, I’ve been traveling back to India over summer break which is when I train most rigorously, about twice a day.”
Kuchipudi, one of the eight major Indian classical dance styles, started as a form of storytelling. It developed as a religious art linked to temples and spiritual beliefs, where dancers would portray stories about mythological characters. To this day, the dance form is still very expressive, as dancers must use a lot of facial expressions. Often, there is a clear message behind each piece. “[Kuchipudi] really connects with my Indian roots, in which much of the composition includes Indian mythological characters, so it’s very connected to my Hindu culture,” said Raj.
Before coming to Choate, Raj hadn’t trained in any dance forms other than Indian classical dance. Since then, she has been able to explore many new styles through participating in afternoon dance classes, such as ballet, contemporary, jazz, and hip-hop. “Knowing and learning other types of dance forms, I’ve found a lot of intersection between them,” said Raj. She still finds time to practice Kuchipudi on her own and takes online classes when she gets the chance to.
This fall, Raj had the opportunity to choreograph for the Student Choreography Showcase (SCS), through which she not only demonstrated Kuchipudi, but also presented her own interpretation and twist on the style. “For SCS this year, I choreographed a piece that was a combination of modern [dance] and Kuchipudi, which was my way of showing the dance off to the community,” said Raj. “I thought it was a good way of showcasing it to audiences who weren’t accustomed to seeing Indian dance forms. I’ve always wanted to explore that ever since I’ve started doing Kuchipudi, so it was a good experience.”
Raj performed the dance with two other Choate students: Lauren Kee ’24 and Vicky Grechukhina ’23. “Lauren and Vicky are both predominantly trained in ballet, so it was very interesting to see how their previous training affected how they approached a specific movement in the dance. When I watch videos back with Lauren, we can agree that the same movement looks very different on all of us just because of the different backgrounds of training we’ve had.”
In addition, Raj noted that while choreographing the dance, she found a lot of intersections between ballet and Kuchipudi. “The grace of the dance is very similar [in] both dances, and the way you show that through movement is very similar. I found that this aspect came naturally for [Lauren and Vicky], but there is certain footwork that they had to learn that other dance forms don’t have, and that Kuchipudi has,” she said. She added that although her piece didn’t have a clear message, “the theme of the piece was just looking for that intersection, and seeing how certain parts of modern complemented certain parts of Kuchipudi.”
Next year, Raj hopes to continue presenting Kuchipudi to the Choate community through SCS and the annual Dance Showcase, if she is selected. “Dance is a really big part of my life, and I was introduced to dance through Kuchipudi. It’s a part of my everyday life; I dance almost every day and I really enjoy every time I do. Without Indian dancing, I would be far less connected to my Indian culture,” she said.
