“My name is unique and unusual and so is the story behind this name. My parents met on a ship and they fell in love and got married and my birth made them feel lucky to have met at sea as they were happy to become parents. Hence I was named as Sealucksea- luck of the sea. My ancestors were from Tamil Nadu and my parents hailed from Sri Lanka. I have been fond of dancing since my childhood so when I turned 3 my mom enrolled me in a dance class at Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. I had a beautiful family with my loving parents and I was caring towards my two younger siblings however my life took a cataclysmic turn when my dad passed away in a bike accident in Italy. I was 8 years old and we had to wait for three months to bring his body to Sri Lanka.
My mom was the sole breadwinner of the family and raised the three of us. Despite our weak financial condition, my mother worked hard and strongly supported us to continue our education. She encouraged me to pursue my interest in dancing. After many hoops and hurdles, I got a scholarship from Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Delhi to join Bharatanatyam Diploma course at Kalakshetra Foundation, Chennai. I was thrilled to come to India to follow my passion and to study in my ancestors’ homeland.
As I could not afford to fly to Sri Lanka during vacation, I spent my summer holidays at my friend’s place in India. At the end of my course, I fell in love with a man, who was also a distant relative of mine. We wanted to get married and I wanted to inform my mom about it. I flew to Sri Lanka in 2007 after the completion of my course and learnt that my mother was suffering from cancer. It was a heartbreaking moment for me to see my mother battling for her life and I felt completely helpless to see her condition getting worse and despite all our efforts we were unable to save her.
After her death, I decided to pursue my career in India and I wanted to fulfil my mother’s dream of seeing me as a dancer. I tied the knot with my beau, who supported me to follow my passion. I started my career as a video jockey in Win Tv and worked in multiple positions during my stint in the tamil entertainment industry. I worked as an actor, choreographer, director in 36 Tv channels including Makkal TV. I have anchored programmes like Pattampoochi Kids in Makkal TV, Dial Shankara in Sankara TV and also have appeared in many soaps in Tamil channels.
After years of work, I founded Kalalaya Institute, a dance school in Neelankarai in Chennai in the year 2007 with just two students and today it has 23 branches across Chennai with 400 students. Through Kalalaya, I have trained hundreds of orphans and underprivileged children as I understand the importance of getting proper nurturing of talent. Last year, I joined Orchids The International School, Perumbakam branch as a dance teacher in 2022. In the last one year, I never took a single day off from work.
Life is beautiful as I am blessed with two kids, a supportive husband, thousands of loving students and great co-workers. I feel grateful to work in this country and to be called an Indian as I feel more at home here. Also, I feel happy that I managed to fulfil my mother’s wish to see her daughter independent and live her dream of working as a dance trainer. She is watching over me from the sky and I hope she must be proud of me. I am Sealucksea, this is my story.”