South Indian dance performance slated

Bringing a 200-year-old performance tradition to Bates College, Aniruddha Knight performs a concert of bharata natyam, a combined practice of music, dance and drama from South India, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 21, in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Ave.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact 207-786-6135 or olinarts@bates.edu.

Knight performs bharata natyam in the family style of his grandmother, the famous dancer T. Balasaraswati. His concerts follow a format established early in the 19th century in the Royal Court of Thanjavur, where his ancestors were distinguished performers.

The narrative and abstract dance of this tradition is presented within an intricate framework of rhythmic and melodic composition and improvisation. Knight’s own dancing reveals a mastery of technique and improvisational skill that are trademarks of his family’s hereditary style.

Knight will be accompanied by a live musical ensemble composed of his father, Douglas Knight, on mridangam (drum), flutist T.R. Moorthy and vocalists Usha Sivakumar and Vidya Sankaranarayanan.