“I came from a family from the business community called Newers. However, I was lucky to have parents who always encouraged me to follow my passion for dance. My mother recollects that I used to watch and imitate the dances being aired on television. Born and brought up in Kathmandu, I had my schooling there. After schooling, when I joined Padma Kanya College, I discovered that the college had a department of dance and music. My older sister insisted that I take up dance as one of my subjects. Thus commenced my training in dance with three styles – Charya classical dance of Nepal, Indian classical dance of Kathak and Nepalese folk dances.”
Nepalese Kathak dancer Leena Malakar was conferred the India International Dance Festival Award last year, she said, “I am a devotee of Lord Shiva and the popular dance composition Ardhanariswara, based on Him, has always been my favourite. Like the composition that describes the Lord as half-male and half-female, I have been a half-Nepalese and half Indian. Nepal was my janmabhumi and India, my karmabhoomi. But today, I belong to both the lands and cultures as an Indian classical dancer”.
Twenty-three years ago, Leena landed in India as a teenager to learn Kathak, availing a scholarship from the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). Little did she imagine then that she will never be back in Nepal. Happily settled in New Delhi as the wife of acclaimed sculptor Gagan Vij and mother to a 13-year-old son, she is an established Kathak dancer and trainer, besides being an ambassador of culture for both the countries.
She recalls,
Nepalese Kathak dancer Leena Malakar was conferred the India International Dance Festival Award last year, she said, “I am a devotee of Lord Shiva and the popular dance composition Ardhanariswara, based on Him, has always been my favourite. Like the composition that describes the Lord as half-male and half-female, I have been a half-Nepalese and half Indian. Nepal was my janmabhumi and India, my karmabhoomi. But today, I belong to both the lands and cultures as an Indian classical dancer”.
Twenty-three years ago, Leena landed in India as a teenager to learn Kathak, availing a scholarship from the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). Little did she imagine then that she will never be back in Nepal. Happily settled in New Delhi as the wife of acclaimed sculptor Gagan Vij and mother to a 13-year-old son, she is an established Kathak dancer and trainer, besides being an ambassador of culture for both the countries.
She recalls,
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