About the Company   THE HISTORY Ragamala Dance's Artistic Directors, Ranee Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy, follow the Indian belief that a guru/sishya (mentor/student) relationship is life-long. They have returned to India every year for the past 25 years to study with Alarmel Valli and absorb the intricacies, nuances, and aesthetics of her style of Bharatanatyam. Ms. Valli, considered the greatest living master of the form, has revolutionized Bharatanatyam, making it her own while maintaining its core vitality, and has carefully given this rich tradition to Ranee and Aparna. Their intensive, individual attention with their guru is a tradition that they pass on to the dancers of Ragamala.
.	THE PHILOSOPHY Ragamala Dance's aesthetic philosophy and artistic method is to utilize the vast vocabulary of Bharatanatyam to create work that reaches out to audiences and emotionally resonates within them. Striving to push Bharatanatyam beyond the boundaries of cultural specificity while maintaining its authenticity, Ragamala has crafted a new intercultural dance framework that is uniquely contemporary. Just as the company's work reflects the international influences of our world today, Ragamala company members come from diverse backgrounds and each has been chosen for rigorous training in the Pandanallur method. This intensive study not only steeps the dancer in the vocabulary, form, line, and spirit of Bharatanatyam, but also the intricacies of south Indian culture, a vital part of this ancient artistic tradition
THE WORK Combining artistic virtuosity and aesthetic beauty, Ragamala infuses Bharatanatyam with contemporary ideas and multi-level collaborations and commissions. Ragamala has commissioned several acclaimed U.S.-based and international artists of diverse backgrounds, including poet Robert Bly, Chinese pipa virtuoso Gao Hong, New Delhi-based sitarist Shubhendra Rao, Indian cellist Saskia Rao-de Haas, African dance troupe Ko-Thi Dance Company, jazz musician Howard Levy, Japanese drumming ensemble Mu Daiko, former Alvin Ailey dancers Uri Sands and Toni Pierce-Sands, Western composer/ vocalist Ruth MacKenzie, deaf actor Nic Zapko, Bali-based Kecak artist I Dewa Putu Berata, and Japan-based Art Lee and his Taiko group, Waidaiko Ensemble Tokara. Ragamala's visionary work has brought the company to many prestigious venues throughout the world, including the Miao-Li International Mask Festival (Miao-Li, Taiwan), the Open Look Contemporary Dance Festival (St. Petersburg, Russia), the Bali Arts Festival (Bali, Indonesia), the Nagoya Kita Bunka Shogekijyo (Ida City, Japan), the Festival of Spirituality and Peace (Edinburgh, Scotland), the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall (Sarasota, FL), the Lied Center of Kansas (Lawrence, KS), the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (Newark, NJ), and the New Victory Theater (New York, NY).
"Ragamala astounds audiences with works that expand one's perception of dance, cross-cultural collaboration, and spirtual meaning." -Minneapolis Star Tribune
Ragamala’s work is made possible in part with funds provided by the Japan Foundation through the Performing Arts Japan Program, the Doris Duke Fund for Dance of the National Dance Project (a program administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts with funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, JP Morgan Chase Foundation and MetLife Foundation), the American Composers' Forum with Funds provided by the Jerome Foundation, Meet the Composer's Global Connections, Target, the General Mills Foundation, the Pentair Foundation, the Travelers’ Foundation, the Fredrikson & Byron Foundation, the RBC Dain Rauscher Foundation, the Rockwell Collins Matching Gift Program, Barclays Global Investors Matching Gift Program, the Ameriprise Financial Matching Gift Program, Medtronic Volunteer Match Program, The McKnight Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, the Winston R. and Maxine K. Wallin Fund of the Saint Paul Foundation, the Dale Schatzlein and Emily Maltz Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Minnesota State Arts Board through an appropriation from the Minnesota State Legislature and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC) from an appropriation by the Minnesota Legislature, Meet The Composer's Commissioning Music/USA program, Greg Anderson of the Personal Advisors of Amerprise Financial and Friends of Ragamala.