Awaaz Arts was established to be the voice of the arts, and what better voice to amplify than that of our youth! Recently, Samiksha Diwakar, a young 7 year old bharatanatyam dancer from the UK, stole hearts in India as she made her margazhi debut by presenting a full margam at various sabhas. She began her training at the tender age of 4 under her aunt, the renowned bharatanatyam dancer and choreographer, Smt. Chithra Muralidaran. Under the focused guidance of such a top Guru, Samiksha has been blossoming as a dancer with each passing day. Dance runs in her blood, but it is her hard work in learning the intricacies of the pieces that has kept her growing in the form at such a young age. Samiksha completed her Salangai Pooja August 20, 2023 at the Music Academy Chennai. Since then, she has received awards from various organizations including achieving a World Record for performing a 21 minute 30 second varnam (award granted by International Book of Records 2024) as a 7 year old, winning Northern Tamil Association of UK’s Deepavali competition two years in a row for her solos, and receiving a Youth Icon Award by Shakti Sangamam in UK. She was given the title Bala Narthaki in 2024 from Sasvatam UK for her dancing. At this young age, Samiksha has already begun to conquer Chennai and beyond by giving performances in UK, France, and India in the last 2 years.

I had a chance to view one of her full margam performances that she did in Chennai. Overall, this was a successful debut for Samiksha who shined on stage and showed signs of a good dancer. The margam was slightly over 1 hour with each piece curated to highlight this budding talent’s potential. All the pieces performed were popular compositions of Guru Madurai R. Muralidaran, with choreography by Guru Chithra Muralidaran. At the tender age of 7, Samiksha handled the full margam with barely any breaks between each piece. Throughout, Samiksha showcased a good memory, stamina, and a keen sense of rhythm. For the most part, she properly tracked her movements with her eyes, sat properly in aramandi, and had full extensions – traits that the younger kids tend to forget to do. Of note is the fact that none of the pieces had been slowed down in tempo. Rather, Samiksha danced them all at the speed in which they were originally composed. This is noteworthy as even many adults perform these pieces at a reduced speed to keep up with the complex fast-paced jathis that Guru Madurai R. Muralidaran is known to create. Abhinaya (expressions) is the one area where one recalled her age. She is very young, so to fully capture the nuances of all the expressions will take time. Still, there were certain pieces like the Varnam where she did showcase good expressions.

Samiksha’s performances got stronger as one made one’s way deeper into the show. Read on below for a more detailed review of this talented young dancer’s margam, which confirmed that a new star in dance has been born who will carry her bharatanatyam legacy with due diligence.

Pushpanjali – Jog – Adi

Pushpanjali is an invocation item where the dancer asks for the blessings of all for the success of her show. However, the first piece in a production sometimes tends to be the one where the dancer still is getting a feel for the stage. From all the pieces, this is the only one where one could sense some nervousness. Yet, despite the initial nerves, Samiksha did not miss any beats on stage. Although the Pushpanjali is only 4 minutes 25 seconds, it requires concentration to not miss any beat – especially the ending where if one doesn’t count the correct amount for the gap, one can easily miss syncing with the mridangam when the beat resumes. Samiksha successfully hit each moment of the piece and did a great job to sync with these final notes too.

Ganesh Stuthi – Lavangi – Adi

The next piece was a beautiful devotional piece dedicated to Ganesha. For her age, Samiksha did a good job with the expressions. This piece hinted at the fact that Samiksha’s expressions will definitely get stronger as she gets older. Later on in her margam presentation, the varnam confirmed that fact. However, Samiksha’s forte is her sense of rhythm, which is what stood out again in Ganesh Stuthi.

Shadaksharam – Shanmugapriya – Rupakam

Samiksha’s confidence in dancing on the stage showed the most in the Shadaksharam Kavithuvam. This is the one piece in the repertoire that was not in Adi Talam, but the change in talam did not phase Samiksha at all. It is also one of the faster pieces that she danced to and is one of the most well-known pieces of Guru Madurai R Muralidaran. Shadaksharam served as a turning point in the margam. Two pieces into the margam, Samiksha now had clearly found her footing on stage (pun intended) and each piece hereafter only showed her getting stronger on stage. This young girl danced this piece with ease from the first moment she entered the stage. Samiksha looked like she truly was enjoying dancing Shadaksharam and utilized the stage well. It is one dance that really showed how strong her foundation already is in bharatanatyam – she had clear lines, full extensions, and followed her movements with her eyes as required. This piece is one that even many adults slow down in tempo to increase their clarity in movements, but Samiksha danced it at full speed without compromising anywhere. At just 7 years old, she did full justice to this composition and her guru’s choreography.

Maye Varnam – Simhendramadhyam – Adi

Varnams are complex and require mastery of dance and expression both to keep the audience engaged for their long duration. Samiksha’s dancing in the varnam was her strongest in the entire program and left the most long lasting impression. This was the key piece in the repertoire that completely proved to the audience that Samiksha Diwakar is a name that will be synonymous with bharatanatyam. In Maye, this young talent Samiksha managed to showcase maturity beyond her age. Most significantly, the varnam showed her strengths – a powerful memory with her ability to retain and remember complex choreography, clean lines and extensions, and strong footwork. Guru Chithra Muralidaran did not go easy on Samiksha and did not choreograph as though she was catering to a 7 year old. Instead, she choreographed to each beat in the song and to each line in the lyrics. So, there was a lot of choreography and movement for this young dancer to retain. Still, Samiksha did not shy away from dancing a 25 minute varnam! One almost forgot that she is just seven as she powered through the piece.

The sanchari portion showcasing the Mahisasur Mardhini was the highlight of the varnam. It was a portion devoid of all lyrics and the mridangam beats are all the dancer performs to. So, the dancer must be able to change between the demon Mahishasura and the Goddess Kali at the right moments to keep the pacing of the battle. Samiksha did a great job in creating the battle scene and showing the two sides to the battle with strength. Throughout the varnam, Samiksha hit every pose with precision and kept her stamina, which was quite impressive as she had already danced 3 pieces prior to the varnam. From all the pieces in the margam, Samiksha’s expressions were her best in this iconic varnam and especially in the sanchari.

Sollale – Vasantha – Adi

After having danced for so long, 2 pieces still remained in the production. This keerthanam is a beautiful piece about Lord Shiva dancing in Tillai. Samiksha’s movements and footwork remained strong despite the lengthy production she had already completed. While other pieces showed her rhythm sense, Sollale exposed the beauty and clarity of Samiksha’s dance poses. Each pose landed well from the beginning of the piece to the final pose, which showed Samiksha’s flexibility.

Thillana – Madhuvanti – Adi

Madhuvanti Thillana is a piece dedicated to one’s Guru, which was a perfect close to this margam as Samiksha’s Guru has really trained her well. It is impressive that Samiksha retained the same energy of the first piece all the way to this final piece. In fact, her energy seemed to be more in the final piece than in the introductory one! Although Madhuvanti Thillana is still in adi talam, it is a nuanced piece that requires a deep understanding of rhythm. Throughout the margam, Samiksha showed that she thrives in nritya centric pieces. This Thillana confirmed that fact for the audience as she handled it well despite its unique structure!

I’m sure everyone is breathless just reading this review, but Samiksha’s stamina stayed throughout! Overall, Samiksha proved that she is a young star in the making who will be shining on stages around the world. She is blessed by the gods and blessed to have a Guru who knows how to mold and enhance her talent. She is also blessed to have wonderful parents, Diwakar and Sindhu, who recognized her ability and have devoted their energy into helping her reach the top. Samiksha’s own hard work and dedication too will allow her to grow as a dancer in her chosen field of bharatanatyam. 

We at Awaaz Arts are excited to see what the future has in store for her and wish her all the best in her dance journey!

Follow Samiksha on Instagram: @samiksha_hanvika