I am excited to bring to Hudson Guild Older Adult Center, a four-part series on Discovering India. We will start by introducing the rich culture of India including its festivals, history, and traditions. Next, we will look at literature and how it connects to Bharatanatyam in a session called Moving Poetry. In the third session "Fabrics of India", we will talk about dupattas, saris, and I will lead the audience through some Gujarati embroidery patterns. We will end the series with a visit to the Metropolitan Museum. 

Some embroidery patterns done by me. 

At Hudson Guild Older Adult Center, the first session was with Aravind Mallapudi of Hrudayam Arts. We introduced the culture and tradition of India, and shared the basics of Bharatanatyam. We talked about sculptures and their role in Bharatanatyam. We will discuss South Indian temple architecture, the role of temples in life (historically and currently), objects found in the temples and their significance.  

Photo credit for images below: Sloka Iyengar 

Photo and video credit for images and video below: Aravind Mallipudi

At the YM & YWHA of Washington Heights and Inwood, where we meet every Sunday, after class, one participant Michael Setter reflected that Bharatanatyam is "anti-dementia"! 

My work in Bharatanatyam and creative aging was covered (among that of other practitioners) in a peer-reviewed publication by Srabani Basu titled "Indian classical dance: A study of its therapeutic exploration". 
​A PDF of the paper be found below, and its abstract is here.