Taking the Lead

Don’t try telling Malathi Iyengar she can’t do something. This 44-year-old woman likes to do things her way, even if it means facing adversity.

Consider the story of her professional dance career. She didn’t even enroll in formal dance lessons until she was 34. At 38--when you’re considered practically decrepit in the field--she made her solo debut, which featured 10 lengthy classical Indian dances.

“People thought I was crazy,” Iyengar said. “They wondered what my future was--what I was going to do with this so late in life?”

Through the years she has answered the skeptics. Iyengar has choreographed and performed in more than 20 large productions throughout the U.S. and India and is considered an expert in classical Indian dance.

Iyengar, who grew up in the south India village of Bangalore, is a pioneer to those in her field. She is the first Indian dancer to receive a master of fine arts in dance at UCLA and one of the only choreographers who includes both traditional Indian and Western dances in many of her shows.

Among her toughest challenges was getting admitted to UCLA’s master’s program, which she completed in 1996. “They resisted letting me in because they questioned how I was going to understand the Western concept of choreography,” said Iyengar, a longtime Sherman Oaks resident. “I told them, ‘I’m here to learn!’ Many parts of the program were very difficult for me, but it gave me a chance to open my eyes to another world.”

Iyengar had for years studied classical Indian dance with renowned Bangalore teacher Guru Narmada, but she wanted to become more well-rounded. She strived to be well-versed in Western dance because she has lived in this country for more than two decades and her daughter was born and raised here.

“Indian dance is not the only thing existing on this earth and I wanted the Indian community to see diversity,” Iyengar said. “I didn’t want to just promote Indian dance.”

And choreographing shows combining classical Indian with modern moves has made her somewhat of a rebel in India, where tradition is sacred.

“I guess I would rather say I’m seen as someone who experiments with new creations,” Iyengar said, laughing. “I like variety.”

Modern style includes freer, flowing moves in contrast to Indian dance, which is stylized, with lots of mime and facial expression.

Narmada, in town for an upcoming show, doesn’t seem bothered by the incorporation of Westernized moves in Iyengar’s shows.

“We were taught traditional but I really don’t mind her doing the modern stuff,” Narmada said. “In India they mostly liked it. They seemed to appreciate it.”

Most of Iyengar’s shows still feature mainly Indian dances, however. On Sunday she will bring her latest production, “Margam,” to Cal State Northridge.

It will mark the first time her Rangoli Art Foundation performs in the San Fernando Valley. The two-hour show will feature seven dancers in traditional Indian costume and jewelry performing Bharata Natyam, an ancient form of south Indian temple dance with three main aspects.

The first is Nritta, the abstract or pure dance sequences and technique. The second is Nritya, the theme, story and narrations with facial expressions and hand gestures. The last is Natya, an element of drama.

Iyengar is excited about her Valley debut because there is a large Indian community in the area and Northridge is close to her Sherman Oaks home. “It will be a highly technical performance that’s high-quality and artistically challenging,” Iyengar said.

The show will have 10 themed acts and an orchestra playing classic Indian music by well-known 19th-century groups such as the Tanjore Quartet. Iyengar’s husband, Suresh, is the set designer, and her 16-year-old daughter, Lakshmi, will join her on the dance floor.

In fact, Lakshmi, a junior at Van Nuys Math Science Magnet High School, is partly responsible for her mother’s career. It was when Iyengar took 6-year-old Lakshmi to her first dance classes she discovered it was for her too. “I thought it was a passing fancy that would go away, but it didn’t,” said Suresh Iyengar, a dentist in L.A. “It stuck!”

Now the whole family is involved in most productions. Suresh spends long hours in the yard carving elaborate designs of temples and Hindu scriptures out of plastic foam. Inside their home, Lakshmi practices moves with her mother and the company’s other dancers. Working with her daughter and husband isn’t always easy, Iyengar says.

“Sometimes it’s wonderful, but often it is quite an effort to agree on something,” she said.

At a recent rehearsal, Narmada sang and played the tattukazi--a small wood stick beaten against a square wood board--as the women practiced for the Northridge performance. Clad in traditional costume, Lakshmi performed a solo of Jatiswaram, the third act in Sunday’s show. In it, musical notes are fused with pure dance sequences in a melodic formula set by tradition. Her bare feet stomped against the wood floor, creating a rhythm.

“The moves are so beautiful,” Lakshmi said. “I have so much fun doing this, even though during school it’s hard to find time to practice.”

But probably not harder than the road her mother has taken as a professional dancer.

BE THERE

“Margam,” a Bharata Natyam dance performance at 6 p.m. Sunday at Cal State Northridge’s New Performing Arts Center, 18111 Nordhoff St. $12. Information: (818) 788-6860. Ticket office, (818) 677-2488.