Namrata Karra (’23) remembers spending five hours a day training and rehearsing for her Rangapravesam, a three hour long Indian dance performance marking her graduation from Indian classical dance. Her performance, characterized by her fluidity, grace and technique with which she danced, represented over 10 years of dedication to dance.

At the age of 7, Namrata started learning a traditional Indian dance known as Kuchipudi. Namrata appreciates Kuchipudi since the genre is very gender fluid, one of the reasons she chose to pursue this form of dance.

“Kuchipudi has tried to break the stereotypes, in the sense that [Indian dances] are often male dominated,” Namrata said. “There are no gender stereotypes, so sexuality and gender barriers have been broken by these forms.” 

Due to the long nature of Rangapravesam, Namrata’s practices would often conflict with her schoolwork, which she found especially difficult to balance in her junior year. Though the long hours of practice strained her relationship with dance at times, she learned how to balance her schedule and keep her motivation constant.

“When I was preparing for my Rangapravesam, and I was dancing for hours a day, it came to a point where I started to not enjoy dancing,” Namrata said. “I was really scared that I would stop dancing after, and because I loved it for so long, it was a very big fear that I was going to push myself away. I had to take a break, and I refocused myself to understand why I like it so much.”

Being in front of the camera, during a photo shoot for Rangapravesam, made Namrata realize her affinity for performance and presenting herself in creative ways. After this experience, she hopes to become an Indian actress as a career, given that dance is a very important part in Indian movies. 

“At the end, my dance teacher told me that it had been one of her easier photo shoots,” Namrata said. “It meant a lot because it takes a lot of time to do, but she told me that I was made for the camera. That made me feel really good because I want to become an actress one day, because I enjoy the melodrama and impractical love stories in Indian movies.”

Namrata has also done Carnatic singing, another type of Indian classical music, from a young age, but stopped after her teacher died from cancer. It was difficult for her to return to singing, as her teacher’s death was the first she had ever experienced.

“Because I was really young when she passed away, and she was the first adult in my life that had passed away, my relationship to Carnatic music had changed at that point,” Namrata said. “I didn’t feel comfortable learning because I felt like I was betraying her, which [now] I know I wasn’t but when I was younger, it was hard to understand.”

Moving on was a difficult process for Namrata, but her friends and family have played a vital role in supporting that transition. One of the people she met along the way was Anushka Mehotra (’23). Namrata met Anushka in Spanish class in ninth grade and ever since, they have often hung out together. Anushka admires Namrata’s persistence and hard work that she has put into her dance performances.

“She has practices really late at night, so [dancing] really attributes to how hardworking she is,” Anushka said. “Especially for her graduation from dancing, her Rangapravesam, she worked super hard. I was in the audience and she danced so well, and I felt very proud.”

Gary Ding (’23) also met Namrata in their ninth grade Spanish class. As they started to get to know each other better, they built trust both in their personal lives and schoolwork.

“We took a road trip this summer to Santa Cruz and USC,” Gary said. “On that trip, I was able to talk to her a lot, which helped me get to know her as a person. After that trip, I felt like I was able to confide in her, because I trust her a lot.”

Through her experiences dancing and singing, Namrata has learned to maintain her positivity and happiness throughout high school, even when things became tough for her. Now, she tries to not worry too much about school, as she knows that there are more important things in life than grades.

“I try to stay very positive,” Namrata said. “I try to do things for fun. I try not to put that much importance on stressing about school, and instead I let things go, realizing that I’ve done my best effort.”