News & Notes
Dance Conversations – Five decades. One Living Tradition
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On 2 May 2026, Ektaa Center presented a seminal event titled “Dance Conversations: Five Decades. One Living Tradition” to an eager full house audience of over two hundred at the Lakeview Senior Center in Irvine, California. Six doyens of Bharatanatyam convened for an afternoon of performance, narrative, and conversation on the state of the Indian classical arts in the USA. Katherine Kunhiraman, Rathna Kumar, Hema Rajagopalan, Mythili Kumar, Viji Prakash, and Ramya Harishankar are all pioneers who founded the first institutions dedicated to the study of traditional Bharatanatyam in their respective regions of the United States. Furthermore, all were renowned performing artists in India before their relocation.
Currently, there are over seventy-five schools purporting to teach this art in the Northern California ‘Bay Area’ alone. This figure does not include the dozens of “semi-classical”, “fusion” or “based on classical” Indian dance schools that are sprouting up on every corner – at least in California. Given these facts, each artist’s personal retrospection hopefully propelled at least some students to a place of introspection and a few audience members to speculate on the future trajectory of this art form in America. A non-profit founded originally in 1989 by Ramya and her husband, Harish Murthy, morphed into Ektaa Center in 2004 to delve into community activities beyond dance. This show was co-produced by Supriya Ghorpadkar, a student of Harishankar.
In 1975, Katherine and her husband, K. P. Kunhiraman, founded the Kalanjali School of Dance in Berkeley, California. Katherine’s first slides pictured her as a teenager. I immediately recognised that she was performing Rabindra Nritya due to the costume’s adornment in jewellery made of fresh flowers. Sure enough, Katherine’s entrée into Indian dance occurred at Rabindra Bharati University in Calcutta (as the city was known in the 1970s). She continued her training at Kalakshetra, where she met Kunhiraman. Kalanjali School of Dance has been a bulwark in the San Francisco area over the last 50 years and has been a key promoter and inaugural participant at the renowned San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival.
Also in 1975, Rathna Kumar instituted the Anjali School for Performing Arts in Houston, Texas – marking the very first school of Indian dance in the state. Rathna is the recipient of numerous honours, including awards from the State of Texas, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Government of India, and the Chennai Music Academy. For her performance, she presented the Annamacharya padam, Naakun Cheppare, set to raga Vagadeeswari in Misra Chapu tala.
That same year, Hema Rajagopalan began her institution – Natya Dance Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. Uniquely, Hema first trained under the devadasi guru Swarna Saraswathy, starting at the age of six. A recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Illinois Arts Council, and the MacArthur Foundation, Hema performed the famed Tamil padam, Yaarukahilum Bayama, in raga Begada and Misra Chapu tala.
Mythili Kumar started the Abhinaya School of Dance in 1980 in Palo Alto, California, where her institution has become quite a tour de force in the region. Mythili shared multiple video clips highlighting the performances of the school. She performed the padam Yentha Chakkani Vaade, set to raga Abhogi in Adi tala.
Viji Prakash’s Shakti School of Bharatanatyam has been an anchor in Los Angeles since its inception in 1977. Viji shared several clips from her younger dancing days. Then, in one of the most moving moments of the afternoon, she danced to the javali, Sakhi Prana (raga Chenchuritti, Adi tala), accompanied live by the melodious voice of Ramya Harishankar.
Ramya Harishankar chose not to share any visuals. We missed out because, since 1982, the Arpana School of Dance has gained a reputation in Orange County for graduating serious students of dance. Still, the audience was not disappointed for too long. Ramya motioned for the curtains to be raised and delighted us with an exquisite rendition of Krishna Nee Begane Baro, set to raga Yamunakalyani and Misra Chapu tala.
Arpita Banerjee
(The author is a tech entrepreneur, student, and enthusiast
of Indian classical vocal music and dance, based in Los Angeles)