(Above) Student dancers Ani Bommireddy (left) and Apoorva Ram demonstrate and explain the history and technique of Bharatanatyam, a type of Indian dance.
Diwali choreographers Apoorva Ram and Priya Suri could be twins.
Both are seniors at Washington University in St. Louis. Both are majoring in global health and the environment in Arts & Sciences. Both plan to practice medicine. And, like many twins, they share a special language — Bharatanatyam, the oldest and most popular form of classical Indian dance.
“Priya and I can communicate just by using the hand gestures we know,” Ram said. “Sometimes we will have these weird conversations with this language only we understand.”
Ram and Suri, along with sophomore Malvika Ragavendran, are choreographing a Bharatanatyam dance for this year’s Diwali, the annual student showcase of Southeast Asian dance, fashion and culture. Sponsored by Ashoka, Diwali performances are scheduled for 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, and noon and 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, in Edison Theatre.
This year’s classical team presents the “Navarasa” – the nine emotions of wonder, anger, fear, compassion, humor, love, disgust, courage and peace. Suri acknowledges the language of Bharatanatyam can be difficult to decipher, but said the form’s appeal is universal.
“There is so much meaning and detail that watching it is never boring,” Suri said. “There is the layer of appreciating the dance for its physical form. Then there is the layer of the story and the message. To me, performing Bharatanatyam has never been me dancing and an audience watching. It’s always been about me communicating without words.”
Like the 10 members of their team, Ram and Suri have been dancing Bharatanatyam most of their lives. Ram grew up in Palo Alto, Calif.; Suri outside of Milwaukee. But both studied dance the same way, first mastering core steps, then memorizing specific sequences and finally learning to incorporate emotion and expression.
“We come from everywhere, but we all have the same background,” Ram said. “To take some building blocks and to come up with our own modern interpretation of things is an amazing experience.”