By Kinjal Dagli-Shah

The one thing longer than Rajani and Mathivarnan Sithamparathanathan’s names is the list of accolades the former has won for her training in Bharatanatyam, an Indian classical dance form.

The couple, originally from Jaffna, Sri Lanka, moved to Stouffville after enduring a lengthy struggle involving a long distance marriage and a country fraught with political problems. It was 1992, the year they met and fell in love. Political turmoil in Sri Lanka, and a passion for dance, made Rajani move to Tamil Nadu, India, where she spent eight years earning a Master of Fine Arts degree in Bharatanatyam.

“I started dancing when I was six years old. I’ve always loved this dance form,” said Rajani, 35, and the new mother of a baby boy.  

The couple reunited in 2000 to get married, a few years after which Rajani moved to Canada, and Mathivarnan to Doha, Qatar. It was five long years before Rajani could sponsor her husband to live in Canada, a country they now call home.

“We met only once in those five years,” recalled Rajani, ever-smiling and brewing with optimism. “There was no time to mope. I was living with my brother and I started offering dance lessons to support myself and his family. Relatives and friends began sending their children to me and I started with a class of six students.”

That number has grown to about 60 today, with several stage shows under her belt, and children of Indian and Sri Lankan parents under her tutelage.

“I have students from Stouffville, Markham, Scarborough and other neighbouring areas. I teach in the basement of my home and also travel to other suburbs for students who prefer venues closer to home,” said Rajani, proud of the fact that her students include a boy, as well as a child as young as three.

“The Hindu lord of dance, Nataraja, is male so there is no question of boys not learning Bharatanatyam,” said Rajani emphatically, looking at four-month-old Dhaahreash with hope. “I’m going to teach him dance too, when he grows up,” she said.

In fact, home lore has it that Dhaahreash has known the rhythm and beats of Bharatanatyam since the time he was in his mother’s tummy. “Instead of lullabies, I sing to him classical songs that my students dance to, and it works every time,” Rajani quipped.


In this home away from home, however, there’s often the longing for a visit to Tamil Nadu, India, where they left behind family and friends, food and culture. Bharatanatyam, however, is her bond with a part of the globe she grew up and flourished in.

“It’s a way of preserving and passing on your culture to the next generation, especially one that grows up here,” she said. 

Got a story to share, an opinion to air? Write to Kinjal at kinjal.dagli@gmail.com.

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