Dhananjayan and Shanta were part of Kalakshetra from 1952 -1967/68.

After graduating from Kalakshetra in 1962, Shanta returned to Malaysia where she started a dance school with the help of Malaysia's minister Sambandan. She ran the school for nearly 3 years. Seeing the good work she was doing, Rukmini Devi wrote to her and asked her to join Kalakshetra as a performer and teacher. Shanta continued to be associated with Kalakshetra till 1968 but Dhananjayan quit Kalakshetra in 1967 to make it on his own as a dancer. Though he received no encouragement, he went all out to prove that there was a future for a male dancer to make a career out of dance.

Dhananjayan started his independent teaching career with one student. Chitty Lakshmi, a cousin of Yamini Krishnamurthy, was Dhananjayan’s first student. Since the Dhananjayans were still living in the Kalakshetra premises and there was no space available to set up a class, Chitty was the only student who had the privilege of Dhananjayan going to her house to teach her dance. That was the only instance that he has ever taken a class outside his house / school.

Establishing Bharata Kalanjali

The Dhananjayans finally moved out of Kalakshetra in 1968 and took up a modest house at #3, 5th Cross St, Sastri Nagar. The principal reason the Dhananjayans left Kalakshetra was because of their strong conviction that they could develop themselves to their fullest capacity by striking out on their own.

After Kalakshetra, life was a struggle because Dhananjayan did not have a big job, and in the dance sphere, he was not even established.

With no base and no financial backing, it was an uphill task for them when they started Bharata Kalanjali. The dance class had a thatched roof and Sumathi Meenakshisundaram was the first student. (Sumathi still continues to be involved in the activities of Bharata Kalanjali). The only support in those times was Shanta’s parents.

As a dancing couple, they faced many hurdles in the years to follow. They had a lot of ideas and wanted to propagate them. They worked hard to fulfil their aspirations to make their school internationally recognized as one of the premier institutions for dance training. At Kalakshetra they had few chances to compose and choreograph their own dance dramas; such chances came later in their lives. With their own institution, they were able to do a great deal of composing and choreography while still in their thirties. Not restricted by rules and regulations of an academy, they evolved a teaching style and philosophy that incorporated what they had learnt at Kalakshetra but also struck off in new directions.

Like anybody striving to come up, the Dhananjayans had their own share of struggles. To support his immediate family as well his family back home in Kerala, Dhananjayan spent three years shunting between his residence and office in Parry’s Corner where he held a clerical post in the TTK Group of Companies under T T Narasimhan, the brother of T T Vasu. Office work during the day, teaching dance in the evening was his routine. Though mundane office work was not his cup of tea, Dhananjayan thanks his stint at TTK because it taught him to type, to be articulate and to manage an office. Since he was in the export department, he even learnt how to run a business. These skills came in useful in running his own institution.

Slowly, students from the neighbourhood joined Bharata Kalanjali and in 1970, when the number swelled to a remarkable 50, the Dhananjayans became full time teachers and performers.

In 1972, the Dhananjayans conducted the arangetram of their first student Chitty Lakshmi at Kalaivanar Arangham.

In 1976, they shifted to the present premises at 6, Jeevarathnam Nagar, Adyar with a small thatched cottage at the back of the house. It was rebuilt in 1985 as a proper building with proper facilities for the students, like a dressing room and washroom. An ambience befitting an aesthetic centre of learning was also created.

Their student Aspi Mullah's arangetram took place in 1974 at the Christian Arts Centre. Another student V R Devika's arangetram was presented at the Thiruvanmiyur temple. These were noteworthy, as after many years, an arangetram was conducted in a temple. More importantly, it proved that one could conduct an arangetram in a simple manner at a simple arena.