The Dance of Shiva

The Dance of Shiva, a dance performance by Aparna Ramaswamy (Co-artistic director of Ragamala Dance Company), in celebration of Mia’s recently conserved and reinstalled sculpture of Shiva Nataraja. Mia commissioned Aparna Ramaswamy, co-director of Ragamala Dance Company, to celebrate the sculpture’s reemergence. The company works within the Bharatanatyam tradition of classical Indian dance, which developed in the temples of southern India along with the famous form of Shiva Nataraja itself. In January, Ramaswamy performed the new piece at Mia, choreographed by her teacher, Alarmel Valli, to music composed by a south Indian king in the 19th century. “Shiva, in his form as Nataraja, is performing the Ananda Tandava—the dance of bliss—in a state of heightened enlightenment,” Ramaswamy says. “In this piece, I describe him as the magnificent, the glorious—austere and fearsome. Yes, he dances in the halls of the temples but also on the cremation grounds. He is the one who wears ash on his body. He wears a ga