Bharatanatyam is an ancient traditional Indian dance form with coordinated and intricate dance movements combining footwork, hand gestures, eye, and neck articulation. Facial expressions are used to convey the meanings of the song, as well as the history and spiritual connection of the art form. This can lead to a very powerful experience for the audience as they automatically associate with the dancer’s expressions, emotions, and the rhythm of the dance – there is a lot of unsaid communication that goes on between the dancer and the audience and results in the ‘rasa’ experienced by the audience. This ineffable communication can be leveraged to tell impactful stories for a variety of causes.

After my initial training in India, I’m now continuing my training under Smt. Kalaimangai Anbalagan in Massachusetts and have given numerous performances around the area to raise awareness and funds for causes like cancer, COVID19, Autism, etc. Being a biomedical researcher, I want to make patients’ lives better through dance and movement, express their hardships through dance, and keep myself motivated to do transformative scientific research to change the lives of patients.