Ananta, The Eternal
by Aparna RamaswamyA luminous evening of Bharatanatyam duets and solos that honor the relationship between devotee and divine, brought to life with live music from Chennai.
Ragamala returns to the Hop with Ananta, the Eternal, a new work that will resonate with anyone who has felt the power of devotion or the awe of the unknowable.
Immerse yourself in an evening of duets and solos by acclaimed Bharatanatyam dance artists Aparna Ramaswamy, her sister Ashwini, and her mother Ranee, who weave together threads of body, memory, desire and devotion. The dance is accompanied by extraordinary musicians from Chennai, India.
Ananta describes the eternal relationship between the deity and the devotee, shaped by the poetry and musicality of classical Bharatanatyam, while also stretching into melodic improvisation and rhythmic abstraction. Shared across other faiths, the experience of beholding the image of a deity is a central act of worship and charged with meaning—this work captures that reciprocal and electric beauty that is shared across many faiths.
photo by Kyle Flubacker
Aparna Ramaswamy
Executive Artistic Director, Choreographer, Principal Dancer
Described by The New York Times as "thrillingly three-dimensional… rapturous and profound," Aparna Ramaswamy (Co-Creator/Choreographer/Principal Dancer) is Executive Artistic Director of Ragamala Dance Company. 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 of legendary dancer/choreographer Padmabhushan Smt. Alarmél Valli, one of India's greatest living masters.
Aparna has catalyzed a bold new vision for Bharatanatyam in the diaspora, charting previously unimagined paths for South Asian dance in the U.S. Her work has been commissioned and presented by major festivals and cultural institutions—including 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—and supported by the National Dance Project, MAP Fund, Wallace Foundation, Joyce Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and a Guggenheim Fellowship, 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.
Ashwini Ramaswamy
Choreographic Associate, Communications Director, Principal Dancer
Ashwini Ramaswamy 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" (Critic's Pick) and listed among the "Best of the Year" in The Washington Post and Boston Globe.
Ashwini is committed to maintaining the rigor, physicality, humanity and authenticity embedded in her Bharatanatyam lineage while forming a personal vision for collaborative, multidisciplinary performance experiences. Her work is supported by the National Dance Project, MAP Fund, Wallace Foundation, Jerome Foundation, and a Creative Capital Award, among others.
Ranee Ramaswamy
Founder, Artistic Director
Ranee Ramaswamy is the Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Ragamala Dance Company, and currently serves on the National Council on the Arts, appointed in 2011 by President Barack Obama.
As a dancemaker, performer, and culture bearer, Ranee's creative vision is driven by a profound commitment to the artistic lineage imparted to her through four decades of training under legendary Bharatanatyam dancer/choreographer Padmabhushan Smt. Alarmél Valli, intertwined with a pioneering spirit of innovation and collaboration across culture and discipline. Since immigrating to the U.S. in 1978, Ranee has been a trailblazer, working tirelessly to create a place for her culturally rooted choreographic work on the major stages of the U.S. dance landscape.
Her work has been commissioned and presented by major festivals and cultural institutions—including 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—and supported by the National Dance Project, MAP Fund, Wallace Foundation, Joyce Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and a Guggenheim Fellowship, among others. In September 2021, Ranee's Fires of Varanasi: Dance of the Eternal Pilgrim (created in collaboration with Aparna Ramaswamy) was selected to open the Kennedy Center's 50th Anniversary celebration.
“Aparna Ramaswamy is rapturous and profound … an enchantingly beautiful dancer.”
The New York Times
“Ashwini Ramaswamy weaves together, both fearfully and joyfully, the human and the divine.”
The New York Times
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