Now, in her early 30s, Meera Sreenarayanan lives in Mumbai. She has emerged as a rising star in the Bharatanatyam circle. However, as a four-year-old in Guruvayur, she had no art legacy to claim when she was inducted into dancing, in a state where art is mainly studied for competitions and showmanship. “My parents had a different vision. I did begin learning the conventional way, but slowly grew exasperated and wanted to understand and imbibe the essence. My parents had taught me to treat every education in this way. Dance was never an extracurricular; it was an everyday affair,” she says.

Her early training reflected this. Meera began her lessons in Mohiniyattam with Akshara Mohandas and in Kuchipudi with Geeta Padmakumar, alongside her Bharatanatyam classes with RLV Anand. “But Bharatanatyam was the language I identified with more,” she recalls.  Her interest grew as she approached her late teens. “I felt I had to unlearn many things if I wanted to go deep,” she recalls. 

That need for deeper study eventually led her to Chennai and to Kalakshetra, where she trained under Nirmala Nagaraj. This marked a turning point. “That’s where my real lessons in balance began,” she says. While pursuing a Physics degree at Sree Krishna College, Guruvayur, Meera travelled to Chennai every weekend. Two days were devoted entirely to dance; the train became her study room. 

“Initially, many, including my guru, were unsure whether it would work. But it did. Now even I wonder how,” she smiles, recalling.
Meera’s professional dance journey took a positive turn there, and her academics did too–she graduated as the topper of her university. “My parents have told me that if there is a will, there is always a way. Their grooming stuck,” Meera analyses.