Malaysia’s longest-running dance school celebrates 60 years

Tanjai Kamalaa Indira Dance School (TKI) is marking its 60th anniversary this year by staging "Krishnayaanam - The Divine Journey of Lord Krishna" on August 22 at the HGH Convention Centre in Sentul. Founded by Indira Manikam and her sister Kamalaa Ramachandran in 1966, TKI is the longest-running dance school in Malaysia, specialising in the Thanjavur style of Bharatanatyam.

The school currently trains over 1,000 students and has produced more than 30 large-scale dance dramas, including "Sivagamayin Sabatham" and "Kannagi".

The upcoming production will feature 75 dancers aged between six and 75, bringing together several generations of students to retell the complete story of Lord Krishna's life, from his birth to his final moments on Earth. Indira, who began learning Bharatanatyam in Thanjavur, India at the age of five, has spent her life teaching and nurturing dancers in Malaysia. She believes that dance not only teaches technique and performance but also cultivates inner beauty and personal growth.

TKI has received several recognitions, including the Malaysia Book of Records award in 2016 and the Anugerah Tokoh Seni Budaya Negeri Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur in 2023. The school's upcoming production, "Krishnayaanam," is a culmination of Indira's six decades of teaching, choreographing, and nurturing generations of Bharatanatyam dancers in Malaysia.