Nayika Brijlal

🪔 About

You might not guess by looking at petite and graceful dance instructor Nayika Brijlal, that she is a qualified mechanical engineer who once dreamed of being an Air Force pilot – but appearances can be deceiving. Ambitious and driven, Nayika is a talented and highly experienced Kathak Indian classical dancer, currently teaching at the Nateshwar Dance Studio’s Ballito branch at FITPOD.Like most Indian girls, Nayika began dancing at a young age. She and her family moved to Cape Town when she was two years old and found themselves in a smaller Indian community. As a result, Nayika and her twin sister Yachna learned to dance in their living room with their mom as their teacher. “We longed for the community and vibrant Indian culture we left behind, and dance became our bridge to those roots. My sister and I were the only Indian children at our school. One year on Diwali, we dressed in traditional outfits and took a CD player with Bollywood music to school. We asked every class if we could perform and share our culture with them. The teachers were thrilled!”As the Indian community in Cape Town grew, so did opportunities to dance. “We would gather after weekly prayer services and the kids practised dances to perform at community events.” A turning point for Nayika came at the age of 11 when her parents took her to the Artscape Theatre to watch a show. It was the first large-scale Indian dance performance she had seen, and her first introduction to Kathak dancing. “Kathak is the classical dance of North India. It’s very graceful and intricate and I was completely spellbound. I knew, watching those dancers, that I wanted to be like them one day.”From the age of 11 to 18, Nayika immersed herself in Kathak, Bollywood and Indian folk dance. She completed all her exams and was part of the first-ever Rangmanch Pravesh (Kathak graduation) held in Cape Town. After that, she started teaching at the Nateshwar Dance Academy. Having always been hardworking and studious, Nayika studied Mechanical Engineering at UCT after school. Her true heart’s desire, though, she says, was to become a pilot. She completed her pilot’s license a few years after finishing university.Nayika returned to KZN with her husband, in 2021. She started teaching at the Ballito branch of Nateshwar Dance Studio at FITPOD in July 2024. She teaches Kathak, Bollywood and Indian folk dance to young students from age four right up to teenagers, although the school caters for all levels of dance.