Angahara Dance Ensemble
The mother and daughter team of Ramaa and Swetha Bharadvaj brings together two generations and two cultural traditions in the production, Jwala- Flame. The duet juxtaposes the East Indian classical dance style of Bharata Natyam and traditional music with jazz-influenced freestyle movements and rhythms to tell the story of the pair’s heritage and immigrant experience to the United States.
“Our dance is in honor of all immigrant communities and our coming together on the stage not just through celebrating our roots but through a process of rediscovering them in this new home of ours,” says Ramaa, mother of Swetha.
The flame or lamp symbolizes wisdom and prosperity in India. Their duet portrays the transformational stages through which immigrants acculturate themselves in a new environment—the sense of adventure and wonder, the initial rejection of their roots, the adjustment, and finally, finding the equilibrium through the recognition and sharing of their own culture. In finding their roots, they find a state of integration, freedom and acceptance.
The dance ends with an ancient Sanskrit prayer:
Asatoma Satgamaya - From the Unreal lead me towards the Truth;
Tamasoma Jyotirgamaya - From Darkness (of ignorance and fear) lead me towards Light
(of acceptance, understanding and sharing);
Mrtyorma Amrtangamaya - From Death (of the Past) lead me towards an Immortal State
(of the Present, the Now!)
“As immigrant artists when we leave our country, we leave the physical restraint of the land, but we bring the ‘lamp,’ the spirit of the land, with us through the art and culture that we treasure, teach and share,” Ramaa says. “The Statue of Liberty which stands welcoming us with her ‘lamp’ symbolizes hope and liberty towards which we come. From our land we bring the Jwala, the flame of our culture, to merge with the flame of this new land we now call home.” In August 2007 Jwala-Flame was performed by Ramaa and Swetha in New York City’s Battery Park against the backdrop of the Statue of Liberty.
Ramaa is director of the Angahara Dance Ensemble. She also is a choreographer, performer, writer and dance activist. She has won multiple Lester Horton Dance Awards in Los Angeles for her choreography and performance. She has served on dance panels for the NEA, CAC, and City of Los Angeles Department Cultural Affairs. In 2003 she was selected as a Master Artist of California by the Alliance for California Traditional Artists and was the only performing artist to be honored by the California Arts Council with its exclusive 2003 Directors Award for exemplary contributions to the arts in California.
Ramaa has created commissioned works for California Choreographer's Festival (2003), Hollywood Bowl's Summersounds Festival (2004) and the Skirball Cultural Center's Holiday event (2005). Ramaa is a special dance correspondent for international dance publications and her writings have also been published by the Congress on Research in Dance and New York Foundation for the Arts. She was selected as one of 21 exceptional South Asian women living in the United States, whose lives and stories are presented in the book Spices in the Melting Pot released in 2005. Ramaa is on the dance faculties of Orange Coast College and Pomona College.
