Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy’s
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About Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy’s Ragamala Dance Company
Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy's Ragamala Dance Company (RDC) is the embodiment of an immigrant story. We are a pioneering, woman-led, family-run organization driven by a quest for artistic excellence. Through the South Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam, Ragamala’s work—on stage, in the community, and educating the next generation—exemplifies the intercultural identity of millions. At home in the Twin Cities and on tour worldwide, we welcome challenging modern dialogues that lead to a shared sense of humanity. Ragamala is committed to the idea that, while history is timebound, the stories we tell each other—through emotions and imagination—are timeless.
RDC was founded in 1992 by Ranee Ramaswamy, and is currently under the leadership of Artistic Directors Ranee Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy, and Choreographic Associate Ashwini Ramaswamy (mother and daughters). Rooted in the South Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam, the company has been hailed by The New York Times as “soulful, imaginative, and rhythmically contagious.”
As first generation Indian-American artists, Ranee and Aparna’s aesthetic is deeply influenced by their cultural hybridity. Thematically, they explore the myth and spirituality of their Indian heritage in order to engage with what they see as the dynamic tension between the historical, the ancestral, and the personal. They approach the South Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam as a living, breathing language with which to speak about the contemporary human experience.
Ragamala has toured extensively, 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), Just Festival (Edinburgh, U.K.), Bali Arts Festival (Indonesia), Sri Krishna Gana Sabha (Chennai, India), and National Centre for Performing Arts (Mumbai, India), among others.
For upcoming tour dates or to subscribe to Ragamala’s e-newsletter,
please visit,
www.ragamaladance.org • [email protected] • 612-824-1968
Facebook: @ragamala Instagram: @ragamala_dance YouTube: youtube.com/RagamalaDanceCompany
Exclusive representation by
Laura Colby, Director, Elsie Management
www.elsieman.org • [email protected] • 718-797-4577
Ragamala presents excerpts of one of our signature works, Sacred Earth, and a preview of our upcoming world premiere, Fires of Varanasi:
Sacred Earth
Support for the creation of Sacred Earth was made possible in part with funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts (with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and additional funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Community Connections Fund of the MetLife Foundation, and the Boeing Company Charitable Trust), and generous support from members of Ragamala’s Rasika Circle.
Ragamala’s performance of Sacred Earth at the Sheldon Theater was made possible in part by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
Fires of Varanasi
Fires of Varanasi is commissioned by The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Lead Commissioner), the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College, the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts at Cal State Northridge, and Northrop at the University of Minnesota (Co-Commissioners), with additional commissioning support from the Jay and Susie Gogue Performing Arts Center at Auburn University, Meany Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Washington, and the American Dance Festival. Fires of Varanasi will premiere in 2021.
Fires of Varanasi is made possible in part through grants from the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; the National Endowment for the Arts; the Marbrook Foundation; MAP Fund; New Music USA; the Fredrikson & Byron Foundation; the APAP Cultural Exchange Fund; American Dance Abroad; Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy's 2018 Guggenheim Fellowships; a residential fellowship at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center in Italy; and a residency at the Bogliasco Foundation in Genoa, Italy.
Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy's Ragamala Dance Company (RDC) is the embodiment of an immigrant story. We are a pioneering, woman-led, family-run organization driven by a quest for artistic excellence. Through the South Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam, Ragamala’s work—on stage, in the community, and educating the next generation—exemplifies the intercultural identity of millions. At home in the Twin Cities and on tour worldwide, we welcome challenging modern dialogues that lead to a shared sense of humanity. Ragamala is committed to the idea that, while history is timebound, the stories we tell each other—through emotions and imagination—are timeless.
RDC was founded in 1992 by Ranee Ramaswamy, and is currently under the leadership of Artistic Directors Ranee Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy, and Choreographic Associate Ashwini Ramaswamy (mother and daughters). Rooted in the South Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam, the company has been hailed by The New York Times as “soulful, imaginative, and rhythmically contagious.”
As first generation Indian-American artists, Ranee and Aparna’s aesthetic is deeply influenced by their cultural hybridity. Thematically, they explore the myth and spirituality of their Indian heritage in order to engage with what they see as the dynamic tension between the historical, the ancestral, and the personal. They approach the South Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam as a living, breathing language with which to speak about the contemporary human experience.
Ragamala has toured extensively, 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), Just Festival (Edinburgh, U.K.), Bali Arts Festival (Indonesia), Sri Krishna Gana Sabha (Chennai, India), and National Centre for Performing Arts (Mumbai, India), among others.
For upcoming tour dates or to subscribe to Ragamala’s e-newsletter,
please visit,
www.ragamaladance.org • [email protected] • 612-824-1968
Facebook: @ragamala Instagram: @ragamala_dance YouTube: youtube.com/RagamalaDanceCompany
Exclusive representation by
Laura Colby, Director, Elsie Management
www.elsieman.org • [email protected] • 718-797-4577
Ragamala presents excerpts of one of our signature works, Sacred Earth, and a preview of our upcoming world premiere, Fires of Varanasi:
Sacred Earth
Support for the creation of Sacred Earth was made possible in part with funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts (with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and additional funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Community Connections Fund of the MetLife Foundation, and the Boeing Company Charitable Trust), and generous support from members of Ragamala’s Rasika Circle.
Ragamala’s performance of Sacred Earth at the Sheldon Theater was made possible in part by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
Fires of Varanasi
Fires of Varanasi is commissioned by The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Lead Commissioner), the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College, the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts at Cal State Northridge, and Northrop at the University of Minnesota (Co-Commissioners), with additional commissioning support from the Jay and Susie Gogue Performing Arts Center at Auburn University, Meany Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Washington, and the American Dance Festival. Fires of Varanasi will premiere in 2021.
Fires of Varanasi is made possible in part through grants from the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; the National Endowment for the Arts; the Marbrook Foundation; MAP Fund; New Music USA; the Fredrikson & Byron Foundation; the APAP Cultural Exchange Fund; American Dance Abroad; Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy's 2018 Guggenheim Fellowships; a residential fellowship at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center in Italy; and a residency at the Bogliasco Foundation in Genoa, Italy.