KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30: When Malar Gunaratnam retired from KPJ Healthcare University previously known as Puteri Nursing College as a training manager, it was quite the end officially of a long and meritorious career in the nursing field, but there was one vocation she knew she will not retire from – as a dancer with a lifelong passion for Bharata Natyam and the arts.
As we meet up for a chat, her phone rings intermittently – all related to her role as a senior director of the Temple of Fine Arts (TFA), which is also her “second home”. Several guests also come calling on her, including another former TFA student, wishing to talk to her about some research materials from the centre’s library.
Strong and steady at 82, Malar Akka, as she is affectionately called by her students, remains quite the busy lady she has always been.
A vegetarian, she keeps fit, and it comes as no surprise to see her go on stage occasionally to join in any impromptu performance – usually at the end of a successful stage show – along with the two other doyens of TFA – Radha Shetty and Vatsala Sivadass – to dance without any care. All in the rythm expected of good dancers!
What pulled her to Bharata Natyam?
“I was fascinated by the dance teaching that was going on right behind my house at a Tamil school in Sentul. The late dance master Shivadass used to provide dance classes and I used to sit and watch and one fine day, he asked me if I wanted to learn and I somewhat ended up starting to learn as well. I was about 10 then.
“My parents too were very supportive of my passion for dance and encouraged me all the way.”
Between dance lessons, small time performances and eventually joining the Shivadass-Vatsala Shivadass team, Malar also pursued her education at Convent Sentul, enjoying an active student life as an athlete, a school prefect, captain, before completing her studies and pursuing a career in nursing.
From her student nursing days at the General Hospital of Kuala Lumpur, to becoming a staff nurse there and a Nurse Instructor (Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya) later and going on to help set up a nursing school in Ipoh, it has been one long and illustrious career marked by various rewards and awards for Malar.
KL General Hospital was one of the best places for training nurses, she said, reminiscing the challenging days for doctors and nurses back then due to the sheer size of the hospital. Malar also recalled the opportunity given to her where she went on to qualify as a registered midwife under a Commonwealth programme, as well as her Masters in Trainer of Trainers in NSW University in Australia under a World Health Organization scholarship. Back home, she became the head of training of nurse tutors under the Public Health Institution. After an early retirement from the civil service, she took on various roles at KPJ Healthcare, from a senior lecturer to eventually becoming the training manager.
Parallelly, her dance performances also continued, and apart from performances in RTM, she also became one of the earliest members of the TFA, partaking in many of its early performances and stage productions.
While still a head at the Puteri Nursing College, Malar also took on the role of dance teacher at the TFA. Here, she also led the teaching of the theoritical aspects of Bharata Natyam, that has its foundation in the Natya Sastra, an ancient Sanskrit treatise on the Indian performing arts, said to be authored by sage Bharata between 200 BCE and 200 CE.
As TFA marks its 44th year of establishment in 2025, Malar remains an inspiration and a pioneering volunteer member of the performing arts institution that was founded by Swami Shantanand Saraswathy, Gopal Shetty and Shivadass.
What began as a wooden building with a few students, in the early 80s, the TFA today is an established modern performing arts centre, offering students the opportunity to learn music, classical dance forms as well as contemporary dance forms. It retains a minimum fee structure while giving deserving students from less privileged homes, the opportunity of financial assistance to pursue their training and learning.
How does Malar see the years ahead for TFA?
“Our founder, Swami Shantanand had a vision for the centre. A place where anyone can learn the various art forms taught here in a well structured manner.
“We do our best to ensure that the traditions and culture of the various art forms are kept alive together with the arts, just as what was wanted by our founder. This is to ensure that the art forms continue to be nurtured from generation to generation. But the passion and commitment must be there, both from the students to want to dance, and for the upcoming teachers to ensure the discipline and retain the standards.”
One way to know that the institution has been doing well is to witness the flourishing of its former students’ successes in their own dance or music careers as well as the role it has played in the expansion of many other dance schools in the city as well as other parts of the country, Malar said.
Asked on how dancing helps to keep a person fit, Malar pointed out that dancing was a form of yoga, involving the entire body. “The warming up before dancing involves the entire body from head to toe and then comes the dancing and finally the cooling down. All these keeps the body in optimum condition.
“It is important to be at optimum health when performing on stage and they must eat well and ensure that they eat the right food and on time. They must also drink a lot of water as the heavy practice or exercises will deplete the body of water and this must be replenished,” said Malar, whose foray into dance and the nursing world also came with a strong desire to serve humankind.
— WE