A lifelong love affair with Indian dance and her devotion to her brother has led 35-year-old Karishma Ramoutar to establish her own dance school in McBean, Couva.
In a phone interview, Ramoutar told WMN her focus is children, especially those with special needs.
This is influenced by her younger brother, Kavir who has Down’s syndrome.
Ramoutar said she was attracted to dance from a young age, and one of her core memories is running next door to watch an Indian dance class on a Saturday morning.
“Dancing was a happy accident for me because there used to be a dance school next door to where I lived, so on a Saturday morning, I’d get up and before I brushed my teeth or anything I would run next door through a little hole in the fence, and go sit down and look at these girls dance.
“Some of the girls, now women, who used to be there when I was coming across, they always make fun and say, 'look how big you get. I remember when you used to run across to the temple in a nightie with your dolly in your hand.'”
She said her mother eventually enrolled her in dance classes, and she went on to take part in competitions and pursued further training.
“I entered Mastana Bahar in 2004. It was the first major competition I entered solo. I don’t remember what I placed, but I made it to the finals. When I was a teenager I placed second in a talented teenager competition and I did the Divali Nagar circuit.
“I trained with various people around Trinidad including with Sophia Mustapha and Michael Salickram, as well as Medhakshetra from India where I did khatak dance online during covid.”
Her mother was also the one who encouraged her to open her dance studio, Nritta Dance Company, because Ramoutar found she wasn’t satisfied with the experience she was getting at other dance studios.
“That’s where it started. Nritta means dance in its purest form. One of the first major events I would have performed for was with Island People on the road, for their Kuchela Bollywood theme in 2010. The rest was just building from there, so now I do classes at various schools around the country.
"I’m the PRO of the McBean Ramleela and Cultural Group. Dance is heavily influenced in Ramleela as well, even as make-up is part of it, so dance has helped my skill set in that.
“I’ve been one of the East Indian dance judges for Best Village for the last three years. Judging the competition gives me the chance to see the talent and the effort that the groups put into their presentations.
“One of the more recent fun things that dance has awarded me, was that White Oak cast me as part of its It’s Just A Lil Wine documentary during the pandemic, and I’ve been part of a couple of their campaigns since then. I was part of their Fuh D Culture campaign for this Carnival.”
For the past two years Ramoutar has worked at co-director of Pro Caribbean Group, which offers marketing, logistic solutions and distribution services.
She had originally planned to go into dance full-time but was forced to find other sources of income because of the covid
