Ananta, The Eternal

“Ragamala shows how Indian forms can be some of the most transcendent experiences that dance has to offer.”—The New York Times

Bharatanatyam artists Aparna, Ranee, and Ashwini Ramaswamy’s  transcendent artistry captures the depth of South Indian embodied ritual and underscores its resonance in the diaspora. Ragamala Dance Company advances the vision of The Ramaswamy family and stands as the nation’s premier Bharatanatyam company, lauded for their evolution of a classical dance tradition into an introspective yet universal experience for today’s world. 

Founded by Ranee Ramaswamy in 1992, joined in artistic leadership by Aparna Ramaswamy in 2000 and by Ashwini Ramaswamy in 2017, the Ramaswamys form a visionary artistic matriarchy that is rooted in their Bharatanatyam lineage while pushing its boundaries.

Ragamala has toured extensively throughout the U.S., India, and abroad, highlighted by the Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Joyce Theater (New York), Lincoln Center (New York), Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival (MA), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), American Dance Festival (Durham, NC), Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, International Festival of Arts & Ideas (New Haven, CT), Cal Performances (Berkeley), Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), Korzo Festival (The Hague, Netherlands), Assembly @Dance Base (Edinburgh, U.K.), Bali Arts Festival (Indonesia), Sri Krishna Gana Sabha (Chennai, India), and National Centre for Performing Arts (Mumbai, India), among others.

APARNA RAMASWAMY (Creator/Choreographer/Principal Dancer) Described by The New York Times as “thrillingly three-dimensional... rapturous and profound,” Aparna is a dancemaker and performer whose work reveres 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.

As Executive Artistic Director of Ragamala Dance Company, Aparna has catalyzed a bold new vision for Bharatanatyam in the diaspora, charting new 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, and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, among others. Aparna’s Fires of Varanasi: Dance of the Eternal Pilgrim (created in collaboration with Ranee Ramaswamy) was commissioned to open the Kennedy Center’s 50th Anniversary celebration with an outdoor, site-specific performance.

Aparna’s choreographic work ranges from intimate solo presentations performed with live music, to large-scale, multidisciplinary theatrical works. Her honors include a Creative Capital Award, Guggenheim Fellowship, Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, Bogliasco Foundation Residential Fellowship (Italy), Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Research Fellowship (Italy), Joyce Award, four McKnight Fellowships for Dance and Choreography, a Bush Fellowship, and a Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from Carleton College, among others.

RANEE RAMASWAMY (Co-Creator/Choreographer/Principal Dancer) Hailed by The New York Times as “a master of abhinaya... her careful art glimmers with the strangeness of the divine,” Ranee is the Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Ragamala Dance Company.

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.

Ranee’s work has been commissioned and presented by the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Joyce Theater, Northrop, Walker Art Center, American Dance Festival, International Festival of Arts & Ideas, and Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi, among many others, and supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, National Dance Project, MAP Fund, Wallace Foundation, and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Ranee’s Fires of Varanasi: Dance of the Eternal Pilgrim (created in collaboration with Aparna Ramaswamy) was commissioned to open the Kennedy Center’s 50th Anniversary celebration in 2021 with an outdoor, site-specific performance. Her honors include a Creative Capital Award, Guggenheim Fellowship, Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, Bogliasco Foundation Fellowship (Italy), Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Research Fellowship (Italy), United States Artists Fellowship, McKnight Distinguished Artist Award, Bush Choreography Fellowship, and 14 McKnight Fellowships for Choreography and Interdisciplinary Art, among many others. Ranee serves on the board of Directors of Dance Teacher Magazine. She also serves on the National Council on the Arts, appointed in 2011 by President Barack Obama.

ASHWINI RAMASWAMY (Co-Creator/Choreographer/Principal Dancer) has spent over 30 years studying Bharatanatyam from award-winning artists Ranee Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy (her mother and sister), and from their guru, the legendary Padma Bhushan Smt. Alarmél Valli of Chennai, India since 2011. Her choreography has been heralded as a Critic’s Pick by The New York Times for “creating space, not just for more generations but more ways of thinking” and listed among the “Best of the Year” in The Washington Post, Boston Globe, and Star Tribune, among others. 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.

As a founding member of Ragamala Dance Company, she has toured extensively, performing throughout the U.S. and internationally, including The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, American Dance Festival, and the Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi. Her choreographic work has been presented by the Baryshnikov Arts Center (New York, NY), Broadstage (Santa Monica, CA), The Yard (Martha’s Vineyard, MA), Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts (Scottsdale, AZ), and The Just Festival (Edinburgh, U.K), among others. Ashwini has received commissions from the Liquid Music Series, Great Northern Festival, Santa Monica College, Northrop, Perelman Center, JM Kohler Center, and Bates Dance Festival; residencies at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, UNC Chapel Hill, Kohler Arts Center, the National Center for Choreography, the Bogliasco Foundation (Bogliasco, Italy) and Camargo Foundation (Cassis, France); support from Creative Capital, National Dance Project, MAP Fund, USArtists International, National Performance Network, Minnesota State Arts Board, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, South Asian Arts Resiliency Fund, a Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, and McKnight Foundation Artist Fellowships for Dance and Choreography.

VASUDHA RAVI (Vocals) is a distinguished Carnatic singer and “A Grade” artiste of All India Radio, Chennai, acclaimed for her evocative artistry across India and abroad. She was felicitated by the Indian Finance Minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman during the Ayodhya Sri Rama consecration ceremony at Kanchipuram Kamakshi Temple, and honored by the Indian President Sri.Pranab Mukherjee for a collaborative performance with ace dancer Ms.Priyadarshini Govind. She has also collaborated with Padma Bhushan Alarmel Valli and Padmasri Malavika Sarukkai, blending tradition with innovation in every performance. Her musical journey includes productions with Maestro Ilayaraja, Sri Rajkumar Bharathi, and work at Maestro A.R. Rahman Studios. A globetrotter, Vasudha has performed at Musica Sacra (Germany), Les Sacrées Journées (France), and performed Carnatic Music with the Bavarian Youth Jazz Band, Germany.

S. SAKTHIVEL MURUGANANTHAM (Mridangam) has been a preeminent performer on the mridangam, specializing in the accompaniment of classical dance, for 34 years. He learned traditional Gurukulavasam under the great Guru Shri Mayavaram G. Somasundaram Pillai and later under Guru Shri Bakthavatchalam, and Guru Shri M. Balachander. Mr. Sakthivel has accompanied preeminent dancers at leading festivals and theaters in India and worldwide, including Dr. Vyayanthimala Bali, Padmabhushan Alarmél Valli, Shri Leela Samson, and Priyadarshini Govind, and great gurus such as Shri K.J. Sarasa, Shri Udupi Lakshmi Narayan, and Shri Narasimhachari. His titles include Laya Vidhyadhara from Smt. Alarmel Valli’s Deepashika, Natya Sangeetha Kala Bharathi from Bharath Kalachar, Laya Kala Vipanchee from Vipanchee Trust, Laya Kala Ratna, Laya Sironmani, and Mridanga Mamani.

C.K. VASUDEVAN (Nattuvangam) is student of renowned Carnatic percussion maestro, Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr. Umayalpuram Sivaraman, and has been trained by Padma Bhushan Smt. Alarmél Valli in the art of nattuvangam. Mr. Vasudevan has provided vocal support to several renowned dancers at the major festivals and theaters of India, and in Europe, the U.S., Canada, Japan, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. He has a diploma in mridangam from the Tamil Nadu Government Music College, and is a recipient of multiple honors, including the Vaadhya Kalaimani, Laya Kala Sironmani, and Rukmani Thala Samuthiram awards and the title Laya Vidyadara.

K.P. NANDINI (Violin) is internationally renowned as a Carnatic vocalist and violinist. She is a disciple of Smt. Uma Prabhakar, and pursuing advanced training in vocal under Smt. Ranjani and Smt. Gayatri and in violin under Smt. Lalitha Raghavan. She has toured extensively throughout India, Europe, Asia, and North America, highlighted by performances in Norway, Italy, Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, Canada, U.S., Singapore, and Malaysia. Ms. Nandini has received multiple prestigious awards and accolades, including the Yuva Kala Bharathi from Bharat Kalachar, the M.S. Subbulakshmi Fellowship in Music from the Bombay Shanmukhananda, the prestigious Kalavanta award from the Karnataka Fine Arts Council, and the titles Bala Kala Rathna, Kalaimamani, and Vishnu Digambar Paluskar, among others.