Thousands of years ago, one of India’s oldest classical dance forms, bharatanatyam, was born.
These days, it’s still being practiced on the other side of the world here in North Texas through dance teachers like Vani Iswara, founder of the Ellora Center for Performing Arts in Flower Mound. She’s an Indian classical dancer and choreographer who’s been instructing students for over 30 years.
A student can train for a decade to reach the major milestone called arangetram that marks their transition from trainee to performer. So far, Iswara has trained 98 students for their arangetrams and this weekend, her 99th and 100th students will make their public debut.
On July 19 and 20 at the Irving Arts Center, Snigdha Mallajosyula and Shraddha Siddhartha respectively will perform their arangetrams.
“This is their first formal presentation, inviting an audience to come and watch. Hopefully, [they’ll] take it further and learn more and grow in the field,” she said.
The dance form comes from the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India and was originally rooted in Hindu spirituality and mythology. Iswara said bharatanatyam is a way to communicate through facial expressions, storytelling and technique.
Details
At the Irving Arts Center, Snigdha Mallajosyula will perform on July 19 at 3:30 p.m. and Shraddha Siddhartha will perform on July 20 at 3 p.m.
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