Dancer Meera Sreenarayanan explains the significance of Aharya abhinaya (costume and accessories) in Bharatanatyam

At the height of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, a group of professional dancers who’d grown up training together in Atlanta joined forces to talk about how to support young Black dancers in their hometown. Those conversations eventually led to the formation of The Black Artists Dance Collective, whose founding members—Shonica Gooden, Jamal Kamau White, Amber Jackson, Terrance Martin, Wendell Gray, Brianne Sellars, Takia Hopson, Danielle Swatzie, and Vinson Fraley—are veterans of concert dance, Broadway, and the commercial industry. Together, they have worked to inspire and empower Atlanta’s next generation of performers. “Once you know how to navigate […]

Laxminarayan Jena, who performed at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Chennai, traced the evolution of Kathak through carefully chosen pieces.

Kalamandalam Neeraj directs and choreographs ‘The Old Man and the Sea’, which will be staged next month. 

Shreya Murthy’s performance was backed by good choreography and music 

‘Deva Madhargal’ brought alive the stories of Rambha, Menaka and Urvashi

Kiran Prakash maintained her energy and poise throughout the piece

The resilient spirit of hula has survived a history of adversity. The art was banned from public performance in 1830 by Queen Regent Ka‘ahumanu after being influenced by Christian missionaries who deemed the dance to be pagan. It was revived again during the reign of King David La‘amea Kalākaua, who advocated for a renewed sense of pride in all things Hawaiian, including music and hula. Today, kumu hula (master teachers) such as Vicky Holt Takamine are carrying on this legacy by preserving traditional Hawaiian dance and celebrating Indigenous culture.   “I feel that hula, much like a lot of dance, are […]