Aparna Ramaswamy performs at Parampara Festival, Kerala, India
On November 3rd, Ragamala Co-Artistic Director and Principal Dancer Aparna Ramaswamy presented an evening-length solo performance as part of the Soorya Parampara Festival in Trivandrum, India. The Soorya Parampara Festival features solo performances by protégés of illustrious gurus to showcase them as artists of the next generation.
Aparna was chosen to represent Padma Bhushan Alarmel Valli’s unique aesthetic that turns the traditional grammar of Bharatanatyam into a subtle, deeply internalized, personal dance poetry. The Festival ran from November
1st – 10th, 2011 and featured ten dancers currently considered the rising stars of Bharatanatyam. Aparna was the only dancer invited from outside of India.
ABOUT APARNA RAMASWAMY
Described as “a marvel of buoyant agility and sculptural clarity” (Dance Magazine), “thrillingly three-dimensional,” and “an enchantingly beautiful dancer,” (The New York Times), Aparna and has been featured at prestigious venues throughout the United States and abroad, both as a soloist and as principal dancer with Ragamala. She has been awarded several honors, including two McKnight Artist Fellowships, a Bush Fellowship, an Arts and Religion grant funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, two Jerome Foundation Travel Study Grants, an Artist Exploration Fund grant from Arts International, the Lakshmi Vishwanathan Endowment Prize from Sri Krishna Gana Sabha (Chennai, India), and the Sage Award for Best Dancer (Minneapolis). Aparna’s work is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Dance Project, and the Japan Foundation, and has been commissioned by the American Composer’s Forum, the Walker Art Center and the Southern Theater. In 2010, Aparna was the first Bharatanatyam artist to be named one of “25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine.
This engagement is supported by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through USArtists International in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
