A Bharatanatyam dance instructor who started her dance journey as an extracurricular activity, Reshma now performs Bharatanatyam as a representative of India abroad.

Reshma Rajeev is a Bharatanatyam teacher. She is also a performing artist at the Indian High Commission in Trinidad and Tobago.

Reshma started dancing at the age of five, when she was sent to the dance classes as an extracurricular activity.  After completing her higher education, she pursued her graduation in Mass Communication and Journalism from St. Xavier’s College, Kerala. Later, she went to the Kalakshetra Foundation to learn dance and also completed her postgraduate studies at the University of Madras.  She also wanted to pursue a PhD but got a job offer to represent the country abroad and accepted it.

Sharing about her journey, Reshma says initially she wanted to become a journalist, but her guru told her to pursue dance as her profession. She was also teaching dance to some students at home. Though her family wanted her to continue studying journalism, she joined Kalakshetra just to learn dance and eventually decided to choose it as her profession.

Talking about her mistakes, Reshma says she has made many but  has learned valuable lessons from those mistakes. When asked about her role models, Reshma says her guru, Kalamandalam Sumathi, and Ravi Kumar Natalia encouraged and supported her to pursue dance as her profession. She is also inspired by them. Furthermore, Hari Padman's father, Dr. Ratheesh Babu, also guided her and taught her to do hard work and be kind to others. She also considers Methil Devika her role model, as she learned to convey things properly and clearly from her. She also learns from her students.

Talking of challenges, Reshma says that being a normal dancer, she did not get any stepping stones to build her career as she had to promote herself even after passing from an institute like Kalakshetra. However, her gurus guided her, and with their support, she did well in her dancing career.

Sharing her achievements, Reshma says that representing our country and performing our culture outside the country is a huge achievement for her. Teaching the students from different countries and sharing the art form is a huge accomplishment for her. Influencing people to learn dance is also an achievement.

When asked how she attains mental peace, Reshma says if she is sad, she cries; if she is depressed, she goes through the situation and asks herself the reason for the situation. She also dances and listens to music in order to overcome her stress.

Reshma’s success mantra is "Valuable things can only be achieved through hard work."

Advising the younger generation, Reshma says if you want to join the field of dance, just do it. People will say things that demotivate you, but you will need to keep practicing. Dance will take years of practice to perform effectively and clearly.