Kochi, Jan 28 : Impressed by the classical splendour of Bharatnatyam, Simone Brero, a German scientist, has devoted her life to this dance form by running a school in Munich to teach Indian dance.

In 1997 after watching a Bharatnatyam performance that caught her imagination to extent that she decided to master the beautiful dance form.

Then she began her hunt for an appropriate teacher who could impart the nuances of this unique dance form, which involves both mind as well as the body.

"Actually it was going hand in hand because I was learning the dance while I was studying for my biotechnology studies and I think dance was always in me and it just came out," she said.

She chose to learn this scintillating art form under the tutelage of Shyamala, a well known Bharata Natyam exponent and founder of the Dharani School of Performing Arts in India.

"That was my turning point into the world of dance and music from a scientist. But I had to return to Germany soon as I was pursuing my studies in biology," she added.

Simone has been coming to India regularly since 2000 to learn dance at the Dharani School. To improve her abhinaya, which means meaningful gestures in dance, she took lessons from Padma Bhushan awardee Kalanidhi Narayanan.

After finishing her post-graduation in molecular cytogenetics in 2003, Simone returned to India for a long-term stay and had her arangetram (first performance on stage).

The same year she started her dance school in Munich.

Today, she has 70 students. Apart from Bharatnatyam, she also teaches the Punjabi folk dance form Bhangra. (ANI)