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Art has no boundaries - Nicolas, Geneva December 19, 2012 Aeka Academy of Geneva, Switzerland, organized a unique show in Geneva recently; the Bharatanatyam arangetram of Fouzia Mallik from Pakistan, a show which proved that art has no boundaries. Fouzia, a student of Indu Mitha from Islamabad and Irina Iskorostenskaia from Moscow has been trained under the famous Kalakshetra bani. When Fouzia came to Geneva due to her international assignment, she requested Geneva based Aparna Raghavan (a senior disciple of renowned gurus the Dhananjayans) who runs Aeka Academy to train her for her arangetram, a huge task, but both Aparna and Fouzia started to work on the feat. Aparna Raghavan is the daughter of the versatile musician T.V. Gopalakrishnan, and apart from being a dancer, teacher and organizer she works for an MNC in Geneva. On December 1, Fouzia’s arangetram was hosted at the academy which was a huge success and left people surprised on how art unites people. Fouzia’s in-depth training with Irina and Aparna helped to showcase her classical Bharatantyam recital. Her bhava and tala were perfectly synchronized.  “Bharatanatyam came into my life as a magic as I had neither connection nor any relation with this art. The only one thing I knew was that I wanted to dance but didn’t know which type of dance to follow as I was born in a society where dance is an art which is usually not encouraged for women and sometimes associated with wrong stereotypes. I am so thankful to my gurus Indu Mitha from Islamabad who initiated me into this wonderful art form and Irina in Moscow. I am especially thankful to Aparna and her Aeka academy for all the support and encouragement extended to me. I hope that I will continue to fulfil my teachers’ expectations as a Bharatanatyam student and dancer,” says Fouzia. Even though she didn't know the language or the religion, Fouzia showed a great understanding of all the items she performed. Her performance drew a crowd of several hundreds of people and was really appreciated by the spectators. Aparna says, “I really appreciate and applaud the dedication, devotion and discipline Fouzia has shown to this art form.  Art truly has no boundaries, what’s needed is the interest and desire to learn and excel in that field.  Fouzia has proved this through her recent performance.”