Ardhanaareswara Dance School

If you are heading down the Nedumangad Vellarada Road, you will find us over in Plavoor. We are based in the Mangalackal area of Kattakkada, which is a busy enough part of Thiruvananthapuram. Ardhanaareswara Dance School has been in this spot for a while now. It’s not a huge building, just a place where the music starts playing early in the evening. Students come from nearby houses and some travel a bit further from other parts of Kattakkada. The sound of anklets and the rhythm of the drums are pretty common sounds for the neighbors around here. Sometimes the traffic on the road gets loud, but inside we just focus on the steps. It’s a very local thing, very grounded. Most of the people who come here are kids from the neighborhood whose parents want them to learn something traditional. We have a simple hall for practice. There is always a lot of activity, especially on the weekends when more people have time to visit. It’s not about being a big institution; it’s more like a community space where dance is just a part of life. We see a lot of the same faces every week. The weather in Thiruvananthapuram can be hot, but the breeze comes through the windows. It is just a regular place where we keep the tradition going without making a big fuss about it. We just open the doors and let the students start their practice every day.