A streak of pain bolted through junior Vatsal Dave’s knee as he fell backwards. He clutched his knee in agony, trying to calm his racing mind. Moments earlier, he was going through a dance routine he’d done thousands of times. Minor injuries are common for Dave, who practices bharatnatyam for two hours daily. As he limped back to his house, he told himself he’ll be back to dancing in no time. After all, his arangetram — a debut performance signifying a Bharatanatyam dancer’s mastery — was scheduled in three months’ time. But the next time he will attend an arangetram, it won’t be his own, nor will the one after that; his own arangetram will be postponed for nearly a whole year due to an MCL tear.
Dave began his Indian classical dance journey in 2019, when he joined Vishwa Shanti Dance School, which allowed him to connect with others who shared his passion for dance, like dancer Chetna Natajaran. Throughout Dave’s recovery, Natarajan guided and supported him.
“When I found out he was injured, I freaked out and I got really, really sad because dance is a big passion for both of us,” Natarajan said. “It really sucked to find out that he had gotten injured to the point where he could not dance at all. Also, his arangetram was a performance that I know many people were looking forward to. It wasn’t even just me — my family, a bunch of people in the dance school — it was something that everyone was looking forward to.”
Prior to his MCL tear, Dave says, he was extremely independent in most aspects of his life. His dance injury ultimately made a much bigger difference than he expected, affecting countless tasks in his everyday life that seemed effortless before.
“Before I got injured, I used to walk five to six miles every day and do everything by myself, and now I need help just going into the living room to get food,” Dave said. “My mom was really sad because she knows how much dance means to me. But my dad would tell me that whatever happens, there’s a reason, and we have no control over what happens.”
Pratibha Sriram, a friend of Dave’s who also attends VSDS, not only helped him to persevere physically, but also to overcome a daily mental battle to maintain his motivation and discipline to reach his goal of recovery. According to Sriram, one of the most difficult parts of the injury was not just the physical impact but the mental impact.
“From the start, Vatsal has been so mature about it, repeating ‘Everything happens for a reason,’ but I know internally, all these things are easier said than done,” Sriram said. “I can’t even imagine the injury because of the proximity to his solo recital. I know the kind of planning that goes into this, the way you and your family structure life around it, so having that be affected so close to the arangetram is heartbreaking.”
Dave’s injury also resulted in his inability to attend a residential summer program at the University of California, Berkeley. He had not only been looking forward to learning about neuroscience, which he loves, but also had plans to meet with many of his friends at UC Berkeley. Dave says not attending the summer program was disappointing, and canceling plans with his friends was hard. However, Dave still met with many of his other friends throughout the summer, who helped him through the recovery process.
“I went to their events and everybody sat next to me, and everybody was like, ‘Clear the way for Vatsal!’” Dave said. “And my older friends who can drive drove me everywhere. They were like, ‘Let me take you to dinner. Let me take you to lunch.’ It was really nice to have them because some of them have also gone through similar injuries, so they understand what it’s like. I think for me, rather than a physical change, it was a mental change, because not being able to do the things that I loved to do was hard for me, and they made me feel so much better.”
According to Sriram and Natarajan, Dave plays an important role in the dance community. When Sriram met Dave for the first time, she says his passion and talent for dance immediately made an impression on her, especially as a boy in dance classes where there were mostly women. As a result, many people from Dave’s dance community have come to check up on him. Even Dave’s teacher visited him multiple times, checking in on him and even bringing him crutches.
“I would never tell him this, but how much he loves and is dedicated to the dance form tends to inspire people,” Sriram said. “He always shows up to practice early. He’s the one practicing every day, asking questions and being super attentive in class. His hard work and talent as a dancer stands out. He has the ability to connect with people regardless of age. We have a 10 year age gap between us, but we communicate regularly. We kind of have a sibling relationship, and he has that with a lot of other people.”
Despite the disruptions in Dave’s life that his injury caused, he says he still works to keep a positive attitude about the present. For example, while he can’t practice dancing with his legs, he can still practice other aspects of dance, like Abhinaya, which means facial expressions or feeling, and focuses on conveying emotion. To Dave, this emotional aspect of dance is “50% of what dance is.”
“Dancing helps me spiritually,” Dave said. “It’s really enriching. Whenever I’m dancing, everything is just perfect. Everything just fits into perfectly organized boxes. When I’m dancing, nothing else matters.”
