From Brussels to Bharatanatyam- Eric Rozen -Three decades of Indian Classical dance in Belgium

Eric Rozen 

   

  

In class

   

class Palais du Midi

     

Strange though it may sound, I learnt the basics of the South Indian traditional dance form of Bharatnatyam from a White, Caucasian male in Belgium. Eric Rozen, my Bharatanatyam teacher, has been running the Nadabrahma school since 2000. He's also been a Yoga teacher for an equal if not more amount of years. Just as crazy is the fact that he himself learnt Bharatanatyam from his first guru Jetty Roels who used to run classes for students interested in India and Indian arts in Brussels in the 1990s.

I met him in 2012-13 when I was searching for an Indian dance class for my girls. I found Eric on the internet and contacted him. When I went for a class, I realised that most of Eric's students were adults and so I decided to attend the class with my children. Every Saturday or Sunday we had a routine to go to class. For me, it was a childhood dream coming true and for my children, I hoped it would connect them to their Indian roots and culture. Attending a class filled with people of different nationalities who'd all been attending class for years with Eric definitely gave us the impression of his professionalism and depth of knowledge. 

By 2019, my children had grown up enough to know what they wanted to pursue in terms of their passions. They chose to discontinue the classes and I respected their decisions. When COVID hit, I didn't continue the online classes either. Now, several years later in 2026, I'm back to learning with Eric. This time, I'm also a busy blogger and have by now featured several different sports on my site.  Just like these sporting activities, I realised that classical dance involves discipline, consistency and strength, all qualities that I absolutely love. This is what made me ask Eric to tell me the story of how his passion for Bharatanatyam started. 

early days in India

    

Eric's journey to self discovery began when as a child he was sent for Judo classes by his parents. His sister, on the other hand, was sent to learn western classical dance. The siblings soon realised that Eric wanted to dance and his sister wanted to do Judo and without telling their parents they interchanged classes. Obviously, their parents caught on to this at some point, but it was too late to change anything. Eric finally became a dance teacher and his sister a Black Belt in Judo. The road to dance wasn't easy for Eric as his parents were very opposed to the idea. But Eric persisted and learned both classical and contemporary western dance.

His interlude with India first happened at the age of 12 when his neighbours did a road trip in a caravan with their children, all the way from Belgium to India. Their goal was to travel for a year and have as much time as possible in India. From this trip the neighbours brought back several objects that came from India and those included things that Eric remembers like a Nataraja statue and music discs & cassettes. Eric remembers seeing these objects and listening to all the stories the neighbours told him and his family about this country they'd reached after crossing Europe, Iran and Afghanistan.

His next strong anchoring point came from watching the Merchant Ivory film 'Heat & Dust', which portrays a British woman who finds her grandmother's diary which contains extracts and snippets describing the grandmother's life in British India. The grand daughter then wants to relive these memories by visiting India herself. This movie was made in 1983 and includes the Indian film star Shashi Kapoor and a very young Zakir Hussain. The movie made Eric even more curious and build a strong yearning to discover India as soon as he could.

     

Shiva Statue

This dream came true when Eric travelled to Ladakh for the first time for a trekking trip. He recalls landing at the Delhi airport and taking a bus immediately to set out and find a Nataraja, the dancing Shiva statue for himself. It was almost like he was possessed with an urgency to have his own statue, having seen the one his neighbours had brought back many years ago. Obviously, because he was both eager and naive, he got royally fleeced and paid much more than he should have. On top of that, the statue was made in bronze and weighed 5 kgs. And all he had was his backpack. He ended up trekking with with the statue on his back for 28 days to about 5200 feet. He remembers thinking how he would not consider finding a safe place to leave the statue while he continued on the trek. At points he felt that he would die on the trek because of the weight. But finally the statue became symbolic as dance and particularly Indian dance would fuel him for the rest of his life. The weight of that statue and his willingness to carry it perhaps created this space in Eric's life. He laughs and says that when the trip ended and the group and him headed to a local market in Delhi, he saw thousands of the same statue in all shapes and sizes lined up for sale at a fraction of the cost he had paid. He maintains that that one statue was the one for him and had found him just as in it he found his life's purpose in return.

      

Eric and Monica Kunz (in red)

Monica Kunz

Monica Kunz teaching with Eric in Brussels

The next step was when he started attending Jetty Roels' Bharatanatyam classes in Belgium. He got hooked onto both that dance style and Carnatic music. He studied under her for about 2-3 years. He then travelled to Kerala, India once on his own and once with two friends. This visit was another stepping stone for Eric into this culture, country and sub continent that was slowly becoming more and more familiar. Jetty stopped her classes after Eric learned for about 8 years with her. He then went on to discover Monica Kunz, who was also teaching in Brussels by then.

class meeting Monica Kunz

Eric in class

At the Rotonde, Woluwe

Group of students in the dressing room at the Rotonde, Woluwe for an event 

Eric and his students

Eric attending an Indiraga, Belgium event

Monica Kunz played a significant role in the next stage of Eric’s journey, enabling him to deepen his understanding of both Bharatanatyam and Indian culture. She also served as a vital link between his training in Belgium and his meeting with Nirupama Rajendra—an encounter that would mark a new milestone in his relationship with Indian dance. Nirupama has had several gurus in both Bharatanatyam and Kathak, as she performs both styles alongside her husband, Rajendra. Passionate about *karanas*and the work of Padma Subramanyan, Nirupama became a disciple of this remarkable individual.

Eric and his students at Nirupama Rajendra's school

With Nirupama & Rajendra (couple, first row)

  

Nirupama Rajendra is the disciple of the Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan awardee Padma Subrahmanyan, read more in detail about her on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padma_Subrahmanyam, who did her PhD in Dance based on the reconstruction of the 108 karanas, which are dance movements described in the Natyasastra.

Padma Subrahmanyam was a student of Kalakshetra. Kalakshetra was started by Rukmini Devi who followed the very strict style of linear and geometric precision in Bharatantayam. Read about her here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rukmini_Devi_Arundale

Nirupama Rajendra teaching with Eric in Brussels

Nirupama Rajendra herself has several awards to her name since she started dancing. She started including the karanas in her style of dancing in the 2000s. Eric visited her school in Bengaluru every year from 2008-2015, with his own students from Brussels. Read about Nirupama Rajendra here  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirupama_Rajendra

  

       

Eric's students performed to welcome Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi in 2016 in Heysel, Palais 12

On stage and Live TV in front of 3000 people

  

The students who danced in the function for PM Narendra Modi

Eric's knowledge of Indian mythology came as much from reading Amar Chitra Katha comics as from what he learnt from Monica Kunz and Nirupama Rajendra. He feels that Indian dance, in this case, Bharatanatyam brings everything from the past and the history of humanity to the stage and also transcends into what is more than human, the mystical, the spiritual, the symbolic. He found his forever passion that he hopes to continue to teach to several generations in the years ahead.

The performance at Bozar, Brussels

Listening to the man makes me realise how proud I am of what the dance symbolises. Discipline and hard work from dancers from all over the world, all trying to decode something complex, unknown, alien and difficult. I realised that some of the best dancers of the class were the most humble and whether we are beginner or intermediate, we're welcomed with the same respect and love by our teacher Eric.

On a side note, Eric became vegetarian in the 1990s around the time he met Monica Kunz. From 2015 he turned vegan and in 2017, spent a lot of time on activism for 'Anonymous for the Voiceless'. https://www.anonymousforthevoiceless.org/

You can contact Eric Rozen

 Email: bharatanatyam@mac.com

Site: https://nadabrahma.be/

These sites could be of your interest Monica Kunz's site:- constelfam.com

Nirupama Rajendra’s website:- https://www.abhinava.dance/

Kalakshetra foundation :- https://kalakshetra.in/

Padma Bhushan award :- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padma_Bhushan

Padma Vibhushan award :- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padma_Vibhushan

Amar Chitra Katha comics and books :- https://www.amarchitrakatha.com

Know more about Shashi Kapoor who was part of the Kapoor family, one of the biggest families in Bollywood today https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapoor_family

Know more about Ustad Zakir Hussain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zakir_Hussain_(musician)

Like this story? You may not want to miss any post by 

You may like to read about other Belgians I have written about here 

Discovering India to discovering herself - Carla Ide, language teacher, adventurer and traveller

or 

Climbing new heights - Tina De Vits- #Montventoux

or my early experience of living in Belgium

Life in Belgium as a foreigner - No More Secrets!

or a fiction that's related to my childhood

How my Daddy met my Mummy - Ramchandra & Ammini - The Chronicles of the Youngest Child

or a fiction I wrote recently

A Promise in the Net - Short story - fiction

J'ai aussi des articles en français dans l'onglet 'French' et en NL sous 'Dutch'

Tracks to Tomorrow - Ammini's Maiden Voyage to Bombay - Ramchandra & Ammini - Part 5- The Chronicles of the Youngest Child

image ChatGPT

It was time now to leave for Bombay. Ammini saw her mother-in-law lock the main gate of their home and give the key to a relative. Her mother-in-law Devaki had entrusted the looking after of the house and the little piece of land that they owned, to her nephew who would come and live there for the time they were in Bombay. They had no choice. The little piece of land they had and the cow had to be tended to. Her children wanted her to live with them in Bombay now as they had all settled in the big city and in any case she was starting to find it hard to labour the fields and draw water from the well. Devaki's son Ramchandra thought she had done enough already and it was time she relaxed a bit. So, he had insisted that she and Subhadra, his younger unmarried sister go along with his new bride to the military grounds in Colaba, Bombay where he had been assigned his living quarters. None of the women had travelled to the city before. None had experienced the long three to four day journey in the sleeper trains they would have to take on the way.

It was the year 1963, the family had to first travel by bus to Kollam or Quilon railway station and take the meter gauge to Ernakulam. Travelling from Ernakulam to Bombay was a massive detour with several changes of trains across the Western Ghats into Tamil Nadu before tracking through Karnataka and Maharashtra. All three women found themselves overwhelmed by all the crowds, sights and sounds that they encountered at the many train stations and in the trains they boarded. Ammini found herself catching the changing scenery of landscapes from the lush green that Kerala offered to the wetness of the monsoons in Tamil Nadu. She had never experienced rain in October till then. She and the other women learnt from Ramchandra that there is another monsoon called the North East monsoon in this part of the country which is at a separate timeline than what they had known till now, living in Kerala. They had carried a lot of food that wouldn't spoil but the travelling time was so long that the group was forced to eat some of the snacks at the railway stations. Ammini tasted idli and sambar on the journey in Tamil Nadu and couldn't understand why the taste of the curry was so different. The three women diligently tried to recognise what was exactly different vs their own method of cooking. Between the languages that were foreign to them and the jewellery and saree styles that the women wore in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra, Devaki Devi, Ammini and Subhadra had a thousand questions for Ramchandra. He patiently answered everything he knew and shrugged when asked things he had no answer to.

Entering Bombay Central station was something Ammini wouldn't ever forget. The hustle & bustle in every nook and corner was hard to keep up with. The four of them with Ramchandra leading the way walked to the local railway tracks which was not very far away from the place their train had finally stopped. As they passed the spot where the tracks ended in the long-distance train area, Ammini noticed the two metal buffers at the end of the platform she was walking past. They indicated proudly to her that her long maiden journey covering half of the country had finished. She would soon see the new home that was waiting for her.

They took a train to Churchgate and then waited for a bus to Colaba. Entering into the military grounds, Ammini and the ladies were soon surrounded by all the wives and children of the other staff. There were women wearing clothes that Ammini had never seen before.  Ammini learnt later  that the outfits were called Salwar Kameez or Punjabi suits. Many of the women wore 'kumkumam' or vermillion in their hair. One of the older neighbours, who Ramchandra called Punjabi aunty, welcomed Ammini with a mud lamp and a plate with offerings for God as she entered her house. Ammini was riding high on all these colours, faces, emotions, languages and people who were again making her the centre of attention. For them she was a newly married bride and she found in her hands bangles, vermillion powder boxes, bindis, a talcum powder box and kajal or kohl which were all gifts from the neighbouring ladies. Luckily Subadhra and Devaki Amma were kind enough to help her carry all the gifts as they settled into their tiny living room. The neighbours sat around them and tried to communicate in Hindi. None of the women except Subhadra knew any Hindi. Her Hindi was also only bookish and she had never had to speak the language. Everyone laughed as she tried to say her first sentence in Hindi.

As she watched the crowd talk to Subhadra, Ammini realised that the room was very tiny compared to their home in Kerala. She had quickly taken in the whole home in one glance. There was a small kitchen and another small room further on. But this space or lack of it didn't bother her. She seemed teleported to a new world once again. As she watched all these loud and happy women who had given her such a warm welcome, Ammini's heart felt expansive and large. She smiled as she saw a neighbour enter with a tray of tea and snacks that she'd prepared for everyone. 'I like Bombay and its people' was the thought that remained unsaid.

You can read about trains in Kerala on the FB page 'Bygone Cochin Days' if you like to travel in the past and are fascinated by nostalgia https://www.facebook.com/groups/441548824093985

You can hear me read this story out loud on my channel on Spotify and Apple called 'Lekha writes, then reads' or on any browser by just clicking this link https://open.spotify.com/episode/3dlhiEY08xkfCidaGie5fm?si=g7c11tICRXuFoJQgZbMRug

Like this story? Be sure to miss no post by 

You may have missed the previous four episodes on my parents that I link below

The day they met

 

How my Daddy met my Mummy - Ramchandra & Ammini - The Chronicles of the Youngest Child

Read the second story of their wedding day here

My parent's Guruvayoor wedding - Ramchandra & Ammini - Part 2- The Chronicles of the Youngest Child

Read the third of their travel back home

The Window seat to a New Destiny - Ramchandra & Ammini - Part 3- The Chronicles of the Youngest Child

Read about how Ammini settles in 

A Morning of Gentle Blessings - Ramchandra & Ammini - Part 4 - The Chronicles of the Youngest Child