10/19/2018
Deeply entrenched in the old mellattur style of Bharathanatyam Dr. Mala Gopal's association with dance began as early as the age of three. Her first guru was Mangudi Dorairaja Iyer who was not only an excellent Bharathanatyam dancer but also a distinguished Mridangist. After initiation into Bharathanatyam, Dr. Mala also took training in Kuchipudi from the renowned Sri Vempati china Satyam before doing her Arangetram at the age of 10. Dr. Mala’s first piece of dance choreography was at the age of 14 when she choreographed one of the most difficult varnams for a performance in her school. Several such pieces of choreography followed while she was at school while continuing to get trained in Bharathanatyam. During this period she choreographed several short pieces and thematic presentations. In 1998 she went to Annamalai university to pursue her BDS degree in the field of Dentistry. That she pursued her dental degree in Chidambaram, which is the abode of Lord Nataraja, the God of dance only fostered her passion for dancing. She continued performing as well as choreographing for dance themes and had the fortune of performing several times in the natyanjali, the annual forum for passionate dancers at Chidambaram. It was here in 2003 that she was awarded the Thillai nataraja choodamani award. In 2003 she also travelled to Singapore and Malaysia where she choreographed her first dance drama and also did solo performances in Krishnanjali,Sthree Sakthi and Devaki Pulambal.
Dr. Mala has performed at most of the dance festivals in India and in various sabhas including
but not limited to music academy. Karthik fine arts, Krishna gana sabha and was featured regularly in the The Hindu during the years 1988 until 1994. While she was in the California she received her masters and post doctoral degree in pediatric dentistry from the prestigious UCSF school of medicine and dentistry. During that time Dr. Mala started working on her own combining the lessons that she had learnt from her guru, harnessing to it a scholastic approach and holistic vision in order to develop a individualistic philosophy of bharatanatyam. She started teaching many children while she lived in California and choreographed many successful arangetram performances. In 2004 she returned to India and established the Nataraja Academy of Perfoming Arts (NAPA) in Chennai where she build the Academy from a group of 6 students to close to 100 students at the end of the first year. Many of her students trained at her Academy have received wide accolades nationally and internationally. She subsequently returned back to the bay area in 2014.
To Mala dance has been a passion and a subject very dear to her heart since the age of five. In
her words “To me dance is a way of worship, it is a means to an end. The beauty of dance is its ability to transport one to a world of divine bliss. The splendor and joy in dance transcends all else”. It is this feeling that she tries to impart to her students through her teaching.
