Priyanka Mohan

I have played far more male roles and my friends tease me to be more feminine. I am an Yakshagana artist and teacher.

I grew up on Yakshagana. As a child, we were always either supporting artistes or helping with logistics before a performance. There would be the children of other performers and we would spend time together. My father always encouraged my mother’s career, and when the choice came on which one of them would stay at home when we were in high school, my father was the one who did. We began performing Yakshagana when I was 10 and my sister was 6. She was a natural while I worked hard for it. It was a rather unique upbringing.

All through my education, I was an average student, shy and kept to myself a lot. My performance picked up in high school and I even topped my college in Class 12. I studied Electronics & Communications Engineering and by the end of my time in college, I started teaching Yakshagana. After a while, I quit my job and wanted to understand the education system better so signed up for a 2-year fellowship where I taught at government schools. The journey has taught me importance of integrating Indian art forms into the mainstream curriculum so children learn to appreciate them.

My father set up a dance school called Yaksha Degula. He wanted to teach so that everyone could learn the art form. We didn’t charge a penny for the classes. Back then, nobody wanted to teach. The other states have thrown some light on their classical dance forms like Bharatanatyam or Kathak, but unfortunately this has not been true of Yakshagana because it is not considered ‘cool’. But since we began, there has been some

improvement in awareness and interest. Thousands of students have gotten trained, and even if they don’t all go on to become performers, they make for an intelligent audience.

Growing up, there was no gender discrimination but sometimes other troupes pass comments and such, but you cannot let it get to you. When we practiced, there was no exception. We had to jump as high, practice as hard, and show him our sweaty shirts as proof of our work. In fact, because Yakshagana has so many masculine movements, it starts to rub off on our personal life as well!

Yakshagana is a male-dominated art form and poses a hurdle for women artists because they usually happen in the middle of the night and move from one place to another. Yet, we cannot afford to lose the authenticity of the art form, so we overcome these hurdles.

Today, we still teach for free. From adults, we collect a deposit to make sure they are committed to the classes and give it back to them at the end of their training. Yakshagana is a folk art that is for the people and by the people. I hope to take art forms to students, through their curriculum, so that it is not only affordable and accessible but also mainstreamed.