Mayakkum Margazhi: Dance is my anchor; it has allowed me to fly, says Chitra Visweswaran

Veteran danseuse Chitra Visweswaran, whose 75th year was celebrated with an exhibition in September 2025, says she has “lived life the way it was meant to be”. Chitra akka, as she is lovingly called, says Margazhi Mahotsavam to her is more about what she misses when compared to the days gone by. “I find Margazhi to be crowded now. Earlier, there were three major festivals in the city; we could perform, go and listen to everybody and see everybody,” she says, “I miss the days where we had fewer festivals and you got to see and hear the best.”Excerpts from an interview where she dives deep into sabha culture, struggles of youngsters, canteen food and more...You’ve performed 30 days a month in the past. How did you take care ofyour mental health and spend time with your family?I am very disciplined, and time management is extremely important. I’ve always felt that I shouldn’t neglect my family. People must realise that it is not only your life and ambitions that matter, and that others in the family also have a life and desires. In my case, it was possible because dance is my anchor. It should be a driving passion and when that happens, it becomes your anchor. You must love it beyond yourself. Dance allowed me to fly.How did you manage to stay fit all these years?After a certain age, you need to take more care of your body. And dance itself is one of the best forms of fitness. The steps and basic movements work the core, glutes, quads, and scapula. So, if you dance properly, it takes care of your fitness. Today, my focus is different. My muscles are not what they were, and I am diabetic. I think elderly people with health issues become more conscious about staying fit.What would you say to youngsters who have stepped foot into the concert scene?Today, in concerts, sometimes you see more people on stage than in the audience. That’s pitiable because youngsters, some of them in particular, are so good. The only way forward is to push boundaries and cross the grey area to prove yourself. Through trial and error, you will have to find what is yours, and the path to it is different for each person.Could sabhas do things differently for things to improve?I think it would be ideal if the sabhas got together and presented the festival in different parts of Chennai. One could look after hall expenses, another publicity, and one could take care of artiste payment. If you spread it out, artistes will benefit, and so will the public. We’d have full halls, too. I say this with passion because sabhas were the ones who brought me up.Is remuneration still a topic of contention?Today, there are very few organisers in the Margazhi circuit who pay the artiste, and even what they do, the pay is not enough. Even the highest-paid artiste experiences a shortfall or can barely manage. Sabhas have their own problems, too.Surely the audience cannot be absolved of their part...Sometimes, I feel though our education is more, we are not wrapping things that are more important, like our culture, with it. Somewhere in the education system, people started looking down upon our culture. Let children experience our classical arts, too. We have to encourage them to take up arts.One artiste you’d never want to miss during the season?I love watching Vyjayanthimala perform, because it is not just about art but about her resilience and passion for the art. It consumes her. Even at her age, she does her show and I am all admiration for her passion. I would like to see more of her.‘In Calcutta, everything comes from the heart; here, people are so brainy and intellectual’Having grown up in Kolkata until her teens, Chitra says she considers herself “a Calcutta girl”. “It is a place that is artistic and very laidback. Even today, they do not care about the physical world as much as they do about the artistic world. They are very passionate. Everything comes from the heart. Whereas here, everything comes from the head. People here are so brainy and intellectual and so they approach everything differently,” she states.What do you think about social media and Gen Z’s obsession with it?Social media swallows you. You have no time and mental space to create things. Creativity gets sacrificed at that juncture. If your growth matters, I think it is necessary to have that space and time to yourself. It is easy to get carried away due to the likes and comments. If you use social media, use it for learning and teaching purposes. I personally would rather be more exclusive. But it’s come to the point where nothing is private.Written By: Praveen Kumar S