Founded in 1976 by Hema Rajagopalan, the organization functions as a professional dance company and training academy, recognized throughout the world for its preservation of tradition and contemporary interpretation.
Having spent her childhood years in Chennai, India, Hema Rajagopalan learned Bharatanatyam from her guru Swarna Saraswati and was soon performing on a regular basis and touring the country. In 1968 she married and emigrated to Chicago in 1974. Once arrived, she found herself amongst the then small Indian diaspora, many of whom were unaware of their own heritage in dance. She gave a performance for friends and was encouraged to begin teaching Bharatanatyam to young children, connecting them with their rich heritage. As she taught, the organization evolved into the Natya Dance Theatre, acclaimed throughout the world both for its preservation of tradition and its innovative performances. Hema Rajagopalan works with her daughter Krithika, who is Co-Artistic Director and an acclaimed dancer, teacher, and choreographer in her own right.
Bharatanatyam is the dance theatre of India, originating in Tamil Nadu, southern India. As Hema Rajagopalan characterized it, “It is a classical dance theatre form which is now prevalent all over the world.” Bharatanatyam is influenced by the Natya Shastra, an ancient Indian text on the performing arts; the term “natya” refers to the dramatic, storytelling element of the performance. The dancers use facial expressions (abhinaya), hand gestures, body language, and percussive dance steps to tell the story, accompanied by music and the spoken word. It expounds the theory of “Rasa,” where the primary goal of a performance is not just to entertain but to transport the viewer into a higher reality, where they experience their own consciousness and encounter moral and spiritual questions. Bharatanatyam is the oldest classical dance tradition in India, going back several centuries.
Besides preserving the basic traditions of Bharatanatyam, Hema Rajagopalan works to take it in new directions. As she has said, “The classical dance form keeps on evolving.” Usually, Bharatanatyam employs the use of solo dancers, but Natya Dance Theatre has put on productions that feature groups of dancers. A fine example is “Sharira Shariri—Held Within,” presented at the Dance Center at Columbia College from March 19 through March 21. A group of dancers illustrated the concept in an elaborate performance. As the program explained: “All individuals are parts of one divine being, each brought to life and sustained by the same divine inner current…no life exists in isolation. Our interconnection arises from an interdependence with the same divine source. To harm another is to disturb the whole and to serve another is to benefit it.” The saying originated with Saint Ramanuja, a medieval Hindu philosopher and reformer who taught the Vishishta Advaita philosophy with the Sharira Shariri concept.
Hema Rajagopalan translated the concept into dance and created the choreography. In this production, the dancers realized their Artistic Director’s vision beautifully. Dynamic dancing, expressive hand gestures, and facial expressions illustrated wonderfully Ramanuja’s teaching and could serve as a warning to an increasingly fractious and polarized society, where egotism, selfishness, and violence seem all too prevalent. The dancers at times seemed to this writer to be shimmering emissaries from another world, the epitome of artistry and grace.
Hema Rajagopalan and Natya Dance Theatre have been the recipients of numerous awards and recognition. Mrs. Rajagopalan has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Illinois Arts Council, as well as the Vishwa Kala Bharathi award for artistic excellence. Natya Dance Theatre itself has been recognized as a Chicago Cultural Treasure and was awarded a grant from the MacArthur Foundation in 2018.
In addition, Natya has collaborated with other dance companies, such as Ensemble Español and Trinity Irish Dance Company, as well as other artists and arts organizations such as the Looking Glass Theatre, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. In preserving classical dance while taking it in new directions, Natya ensures that “it lives today,” as its Founder said.
