By SEETA PERSAD Sunday, September 5 2010

Born to Trinidadians Niranjan and Shanti Singh, the extremely talented Ranjeeta Singh, 16, has been wowing audiences in TT as she performed at several venues around the country over the past few weeks. This attractive young dancer can easily be mistaken for a Bollywood actress. She has deep-set brown eyes that shine when she smiles and long black hair that complements her charming face.

But Ranjeeta does not think a girl should just have a beautiful face. “I believe that true beauty comes from within. A girl should have talent and must be well educated,” she said.

Ranjeeta’s parents migrated 20 years ago and have both secured good jobs in New York Niranjan is an executive with the postal service while Shanti works in the medical field as an instrument purchaser. Ranjeeta has one brother, Nakul, who is an excellent tabla drummer. The family is currently enjoying a visit home to TT, staying with relatives in St Helena.

Having been in dance school for the past ten years Ranjeeta is now ready to do solo performances with the permission of her guru Gargi Chattopadhay of India. “In doing classical dance it is important to get the blessings of one’s guru as the dance is highly spiritual,” she said.

Talking about her style of dance which is Kuchipuri and Bharatnatyam she says classical dance has a lot of significance. “It is not merely meant for entertaining oneself, but it serves as a fabulous way to express the innate feelings of the heart. It is one of the best means to get connected to God,” she said.

She notes that the theoretical aspect related to Indian classical dance can be traced back during the period of Natya Shastra of Bharata Muni (400 BC) and that in the ancient times, dance was performed to appease the deities and was considered a vital element of spirituality.

“Dance performances took place inside the sanctum of the temple. As per the scriptures, this dance form was referred to as Agama Nartanam,” she explains, noting that classical dances of India also found their way in the royal courts and they were popularly known as Carnatakam. Born in New York, Ranjeeta is a student of the Memorial Junior High School, Valley Stream, New York. Apart from dancing, she is involved in the poetry club, ceramic club, and culinary club in her school. “There is so much time and nothing to do so I try to learn all these arts that will help me in being a good home-maker one day,” she said smilingly. She also loves sports such as badminton, soccer and cricket.

Later this year she will be accompanying her guru to Calcutta, India for several performances there.

She is already booked for performances in The Indian Consulate, City Hall in New York, Brookhaven National Laboratory in Long Island, The Bronx Zoo, Stony Brook University and well as Colden Centre in Queens College. She was featured in ITV, New York earlier this year as having Trinidadian parentage of Indian descent and being a New Yorker.

She loves spending time with her relatives in TT. “I love going to the malls and liming and eating pizza and ice cream,” she said. She has been visiting the beaches and looking at the Trinidadian artistes on TV.