Lafayette College mathematics professor Sahana Balasubramanya held a Bharatanatyam dance recital at the Williams Center for the Arts last Saturday.
Bharatanatyam is a classical Indian dance form with about 3,000 years of history. Balasubramanya choreographed the dances she performed and worked with a group of musicians in India to set them to music. She titled the piece “Apaam Swarupam,” or the form of water.
Balasubramanya performed five dances at the recital, as well as the traditional conclusion to a Bharatanatyam performance. The first dance depicted the journey of a river and its parallels to a temple procession, according to Balasubramanya. The following four dances centered on different rivers in India.
Although Bharatanatyam is rooted in religious themes and practices, Balasubramanya views the dance more as a way to connect with her culture. Each river represented in her recital is a goddess in Hinduism with associated stories and myths.
“If the river is only ever referred to as a river, I don’t know how to make that interesting, but if the river is personified as a person that has his or her own story, then a lot of human elements come into it,” Balasubramanya said.
Between her dances, Balasubramanya spoke to the audience to explain the myths and discuss the impact of pollution and climate change on rivers.
“Climate change and conservation of the environment are such big things — we’re all aware of this problem,” Balasubramanya said. “It can be very cut and dry for a nonscientist to have to pick up a massive report and read it. Art is the creative way you get to get that message out there.”
“I wanted to do something that brings in a human element to these things, that makes them connect with people,” she continued.
Balasubramanya stressed the importance of art as universal and accessible. The music for the dance contained lyrics in several different Indian languages.
“Tapping into the universal, the universality of body language and expressions, is also something that I find amazing,” Balasubramanya said. “You may not know what the music is saying. You can appreciate it, but the fact that if I do a good enough job, you can still understand the story from the way I depict things and I emote things.”
Vanika Sok ‘26, one of Balasubramanya’s students, compared the dance to Balasubramanya’s lectures and their explicit thought process.
“Every tiny bit of your body language, your facial expressions, all comes together to one perfect performance, as if one perfect proof in theoretical math,” Sok said.
Other students expressed love for the performance.
“As someone who’s also coming from India, she’s an absolute role model, and she represents our culture with such authenticity and grace,” said Swetha Tadisina ‘25 about Balasubramanya. “It fills my heart.”
Shreya Suresh ‘25, a Maggin Creative and Performing Arts Initiative scholar, echoed this sentiment.
“Coming to college is sometimes the first time people are exposed to cultures other than their own, people unlike themselves,” said Suresh. “I think that’s wonderful.”
Suresh also performs Bharatanatyam and is currently teaching a class on the art form for Lafayette students.
Balasubramanya will be going to Vanderbilt University in November to perform another show. Suresh will hold a Bharatanatyam recital at the dance showcase Nov. 20th.
“Art, music, dance — these are things that anybody can relate to, anybody can understand, regardless of language, regardless of background,” Suresh said. “I think it just facilitates human connection in a way that doesn’t alienate anybody.”