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Schedule

Saturday, October 14, 2023
7:30 p.m. Performance

Acclaimed Bharatanatyam artist Aparna Ramaswamy's newest work Ananta, The Eternal weaves together threads of body, memory, desire, and devotion to describe the eternal relationship between the deity and the devotee. For the first time, Aparna is joined by her sister, Ashwini Ramaswamy, in an evening of solos and duets accompanied by a remarkable musical ensemble from Chennai, India.

“[The Ramaswamys’] devotion to the Bharatanatyam style and to treating that lineage as a living language is always radiantly clear.” — The New York Times

About the Artists

Aparna Ramaswamy is Executive Artistic Director of Ragamala Dance Company. Described by The New York Times as “thrillingly three-dimensional… rapturous and profound,” she is a dancemaker, performer, and culture bearer whose work mines the artistic, philosophical, and intellectual depths of her artistic lineage, evolving ancestral and cultural knowledge in the diaspora as a catalyst for contemporary human thought. She is the life-long disciple and hand-picked protégé of legendary dancer/choreographer Padmabhushan Smt. Alarmél Valli, one of India’s greatest living masters, who has selected Aparna as the artist to carry her artistic lineage into the future.

Aparna has catalyzed a bold new vision for Bharatanatyam in the diaspora, making it possible for the company to chart previously unimagined paths for South Asian dance in the U.S. Her profound artistry and pioneering vision have drawn the attention and support of major festivals and cultural institutions — such as the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Joyce Theater, Harris Theater, Northrop, American Dance Festival, Silk Road Ensemble, Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi, and many others — as well as funders such as the National Dance Project, MAP Fund, Wallace Foundation, Joyce Foundation, and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, among others. In September 2021, Aparna’s Fires of Varanasi: Dance of the Eternal Pilgrim (created in collaboration with Ranee Ramaswamy) was selected to open the Kennedy Center’s 50th Anniversary celebration.

Aparna’s choreographic work ranges from emotionally spacious yet intimate solo presentations performed with live music, to large-scale, multidisciplinary theatrical works. Her honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, Bogliasco Foundation Residential Fellowship (Italy), Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Research Fellowship (Italy), Joyce Award, four McKnight Fellowships for Dance and Choreography, and the 2022 Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from Carleton College, among others.

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Ashwini Ramaswamy is Choreographic Associate of Ragamala Dance Company. She has spent over 30 years studying Bharatanatyam from award-winning artists Ranee Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy (her mother and sister), and their guru, the legendary Padma Bhushan Smt. Alarmél Valli of Chennai, India since 2011. Her upbringing in both India and the U.S. has encouraged a hybridic aesthetic and vision, and her choreography has been heralded by The New York Times for “creating space, not just for more generations but more ways of thinking” and listed among the “Best of the Year” in The Washington Post. Ashwini is committed to maintaining the beauty, technique, rigor, and values embedded in her Bharatanatyam lineage while forming a personal vision for collaborative, multidisciplinary performance experiences. 

As a senior company dancer with Ragamala Dance Company, she performed throughout the U.S. and internationally at venues including the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, American Dance Festival, Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi, and the Soorya Festival, among others. Her choreographic work has been presented by the Cowles Center (Minneapolis, MN), Baryshnikov Arts Center (New York, NY), The Yard (Martha's Vineyard, MA), Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts (Scottsdale, AZ), BroadStage (Santa Monica, CA)  and The Just Festival (Edinburgh, U.K), among others.

Ashwini’s artistry, perspective, and approach has been recognized by commissions from the Liquid Music Series, Great Northern Festival, Santa Monica College and Macalester College; residencies at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, UNC Chapel Hill, Kohler Arts Center,  the National Center for Choreography,  the Bogliasco Foundation (Bogliasco, Italy) and Camargo Foundation (Cassis, France, 2023); and support from the National Dance Project, MAP Fund, USArtists International, National Performance Network, a Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, and McKnight Foundation Artist Fellowships for Dance and Choreography, among others.

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About Ragamala Dance Company

Ragamala Dance Company was founded in 1992 by Ranee Ramaswamy, and is under the leadership of Artistic Directors Ranee Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy, and Choreographic Associate Ashwini Ramaswamy (mother and daughters). Rooted in the South Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam, the company has been hailed by The New York Times as “soulful, imaginative, and rhythmically contagious.”

Ragamala Dance Company is a pioneering, intergenerational, family-run organization committed to the idea that while history is time bound, the stories we share are timeless. Ragamala's work in the performing arts field is expansive. We set our gaze far beyond the stage to realize the kindred relationship between ancient and contemporary that is urgently needed in today’s world. Ragamala engages in a collaborative practice with myriad artists and is rooted in the idea of Bharatanatyam as a dynamic living tradition. Ranee and Aparna’s training under legendary artist Alarmél Valli is the bedrock of a creative ethos that springs from beauty, truth, and spirit.

Described as “the standard bearer of a singularly successful kind of hybridity” (The Huffington Post), Ragamala is commissioned and presented extensively worldwide, including the Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Joyce Theater (New York), Lincoln Center (New York), Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival (MA), Harris Theater for Music and Dance (Chicago, IL), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), American Dance Festival (Durham, NC), Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, International Festival of Arts & Ideas (New Haven, CT), Cal Performances (Berkeley), the Music Center (Los Angeles, CA), University Musical Society at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), Just Festival (Edinburgh, U.K.), Bali Arts Festival (Indonesia), Sri Krishna Gana Sabha (Chennai, India), and National Centre for Performing Arts (Mumbai, India), among others.

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Performing Arts and Culture programs at Asia Society Texas are presented by Syamal and Susmita Poddar. Major support comes from Nancy C. Allen, Chinhui Juhn and Eddie Allen, The Brown Foundation, Inc., the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance, The Clayton Fund, Houston Endowment Inc., and Mid-America Arts Alliance. Generous funding also provided by The Anchorage Foundation of Texas, The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts, and Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas), National Endowment for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts. Additional support is by the Friends of Asia Society, a dedicated group of individuals and organizations committed to bringing exceptional programming to Asia Society Texas

Performing Arts and Culture Presenting Sponsors

Syamal and Susmita Poddar

Performing Arts and Culture Program Sponsors

About Asia Society Texas

Asia Society Texas believes in the strength and beauty of diverse perspectives and people. As an educational institution, we advance cultural exchange by celebrating the vibrant diversity of Asia, inspiring empathy, and fostering a better understanding of our interconnected world. Spanning the fields of arts, business, culture, education, and policy, our programming is rooted in the educational and cultural development of our community — trusting in the power of art, dialogue, and ideas to combat bias and build a more inclusive society.