What does a degree mean to you? Any degree, be it in Computer Science or in Literature or in Banking? It means growth – both at a personal level and at a professional trajectory.

However, Dr. Saroj Sharma, Director, Kala Ashram College of Performing Arts, prefers to add one more dimension of growth when she talks about MA in Performing Arts. “It is a milestone that marks a never-before mental, professional and spiritual evolution of a student. A person who chooses to study a subject like Vocal, Instrumental and Classical Dance in a serious and rigorous, way through the MA degree is not simply a degree-seeker. That person is simultaneously accomplishing a lot of turning-points in one’s life. This is a compelling choice for people who are looking to advance their careers in something they love from their heart. And now the good news is that – one does not have to compromise on professional choices to pick a passion like music and classical dance. It is becoming equally lucrative whether you want to learn it for knowledge or as a promising career path.”

Dr. Saroj was announcing the official authorization of MA in Performing Arts degree course to Kala Ashram College of Performing Arts, a scion of Kala Ashram Foundation, as awarded by Prayag Sangeet Samiti, Allahabad. So far, Prayag Sangeet Samiti was conducting exams from first year to sixth year in various Indian and International centres. From this year, it is unravelling Masters in Performing Arts in four centres in India – Delhi, Patna, Calcutta and Udaipur.

Yes, Udaipur, through Kala Ashram College of Performing Arts, has earned the pride of being chosen as the centre for West Zone for this degree. Elated and excited, Director Dr. Sharma explained the true connotation of this degree to a curious ocean of aspiring students. She captured the value of this degree in two layers.

First is the aspect of professional opportunities that get unlocked when a student earns this degree.

1. MA Graduates in Vocal, Instrumental and Classical Dance can start their own institutes and practice-centres because this degree captures the depth, understanding and breadth of these beautifully-complex subjects, when taught in a structured and well-guided manner
2. Such graduates can join a number of teaching positions that are rapidly opening in the realm of Performing Arts at various schools across India
3. Academic qualification of this stature in Classical Dance adds a very strong, and complementary, attribute to practitioners and teachers of Yoga and Calisthenics. It enriches and elevates their knowledge and proficiency levels
4. Physiotherapists can leverage the cognitive and behavioural insights of Classical Dance – already being explored, and proven, at various research initiatives and experiments – to help their patients with holistic treatments
5. Similarly, mental health counsellors and child counsellors can tap the unique mind-power of Performing Arts to strengthen their diagnosis and approaches for a better, happier and healthier lives
6. This degree is a great stepping stone for people keen in advanced level Ph.D research and other academic pursuits in this domain because of the rigour, exhaustive coverage, strong balance of theory and practical assessments, as well as individual interpretative range that this course allows
7. Event planners, operations’ managers and choreographers of the modern-age can gain a lot of skeletal underpinnings and insights by studying this course

Second is the personal aspect that can be explored well with a systematic study programme like this degree:

1. Classical Dances like Kathak are comprised of mathematics, cognitive areas and structure in an emphatic way - as is evident in its intricate, and precision-driven, compositions. That is what helps as a great memory-builder and booster for students of this art and science
2. Performing Arts, specially Classical Dances, open up kinesthetic awareness in a rich way. This area is also inimitable in the manner it works out lungs and heart muscles amongst other body parts, thus, allowing its students to enjoy a 360 degree fitness regimen – in mind, body, and spirit
3. The salient aspects of ‘Nine Rasas’, ‘Abhinay’, ‘Nayak-Nayika Bhaav’ and many such areas add vibrancy and expression to the life of the most shy person – enabling a student to fight depression, isolation and mental blocks in more than one ways
4. Performing Arts – in its entirety- is a spiritual wing that equips a serious, and devoted, learner to discover new depths of one’s mind, one’s purpose in life and new perspectives about this world. It is a complete journey – in every sense (and as Dr. Sharma quotes it best – “it is a journey that makes sure that you find your ‘sam’ in life instead of being adrift and lost in the noise of this world.”)

These are exactly the focus areas that Dr. Sharma has been illustrious for among her students so far. She practises the fundamental essence of Classical Dances like Kathak and Music in an unrelenting way as a teacher and mentor. This new paradigm finds her confident and ready to empower more and more people with the power, magic and beauty of Vocal, Instrumental and Classical Dance through this MA degree.

She encourages everyone to pursue this opportunity. Anyone who wants to get a new dimension of growth in life can find a pot at the end of this rainbow. And this degree, unlike most degrees, is clearly a window that opens into a future of vibrant promises. It is a rainbow of not just colour, but many.