In a quiet corner in south Chennai, Mohiniattam artistes and teacher Gopika Varma not only teaches the dance to her students u but also spends time, money and energy on hosting a dance fest.

‘Dasyam Swati Nrityotsavam’ is into its seventh year and this year's fest concluded recently. It is held at the Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swami Temple in Gandhi Nagar, Adyar. Says Gopika Varma, “I start work in January every year. It takes time." This year, the fest featured the classical dance forms of Kathak, Mohiniattam and Bharatanatyam and hosted 14 dancers, both juniors and seniors.

The artistes danced to compositions in Sanskrit, Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil. Gopika says she organises this festival as a tribute to Sri Padmanabha Swami, to propagate the compositions of Swati Thirunal and to showcase talented dancers and to provides local residents another opportunity to enjoy dance recitals.

"There are several compositions of Swati Thirunal suited for dancer and I select the compositions for dancers to perform so that there are no repetitions of the compositions." The Dasyam festival in Chennai may not be bigtime but it is gaining attention.