What better way to celebrate March 8th, International Women’ s Day, than by introducing some extraordinary women who have recently moved to the US. I met them this week: Sweta Ravisankar, Sridharini Sridhara and Yashaswini Raghuram are dancers who perform together with a group of women musicians, Lakshmi Sridhar, Anuradha Ganesh, Laya Kashyap and Harini Ganesh.

They will be performing Shakti tomorrow Saturday March 9th and if you have any flexibility on short notice do come out to see it – you’ll be immersed into a different culture by both dance and setting in a small temple in Hillsboro.

The dance that the three will be staging on Saturday is a South Indian classical dance form called  “Bharatanatyam.” It is story telling at its best, using every conceivable means to convey meaning: specific steps, sequences of foot movement (nritta), hand movements and facial expressions (abhinaya.)

The dance includes scenes about strong women danced by strong women – their physical stamina had me breathless just watching. One of the scenes depicts a fight between Goddess Durga, an incarnation of the Goddess Parvathi and the demon Mahishasura. Parvathi was the consort of Shiva – and sometimes she appears in the form of the left side of his body. This is a concept expressed in the dance as “ardhanari,” literally translated as half a woman’s body. Two dancers perform as two parts of the same body, requiring strong synchronicity.

Parvathi reincarnated in another strong woman as well: Goddess Meenakshi. She is the presiding deity of the Madhurai Meenakshi temple in Madhurai, India and was a warrior princess who was trained in martial arts and warfare including archery. The bow and arrow movements are perfectly incorporated into the story telling.

Essential part of the bharatanatyam recital are the musicians who sing, play the cymbals, drums and violin. Particularly fascinating for me was hearing rhythmic syllables sung, which are called jathis / solkattus. The person reciting the jathis has to orchestrate it with equivalents beats on the cymbals called “nattuvangam” which is why they are called the nattuvangam artist.

The three dancers have not been in the US for long. Sweta moved from India to California in 2012 and came to PDX in 2015. She holds a master’s degree in Fine Arts and now pursues her PhD at OHSU. How she has time and energy to combine strenuous studies with the devotion to her dancing is a mystery to an old sloth like me. As a Bharatanatyam and Nattuvangam artist with 25+ years of journey in this art form under the tutelage of her gurus, Roja Kannan and Padmini Radhakrishnan in India, she now focusses on choreography, teaching and giving performances as a solo artist, as well as being a member of this terrific trio, Sankalpa. No wonder, she’s been accumulating awards.

Sridharini is a Bharatanatyam dancer from Chennai (India) and moved to Portland in 2014. Trained as a certified accountant she now directs her own dance school Kala Shiksha that intensively trains students in the nuances of the artform. Her pupils must love her – she radiates warmth as well as self-discipline. She is the disciple of Guru Smt. Revathi Ramachandran of the Melattur style and has been under her tutelage for over 20 years. She is also formally trained in Nattuvangam and carnatic music and  holds a diploma in Bharathanatiyam. Her international performance history speaks for itself.

Yashaswini is a Bharatanatyam and an Odissi dancer and moved from Bengaluru, India to Dallas, Texas in 2012 and to Portland in 2015. She has been studying Bharatanatyam under Smt. Shubha Dhananjay for the past 18 years and has also been learning Odissi under Smt. Aparupa Chatterjee for the past 5 years in the US. How someone who looks younger than my youngest son could have been dancing for almost 20 years is another mystery to me. Her performance history is extensive, including conducting dance festivals. Her own dance school here in Portland and her work as an assistant director of the Odissi Dance Company, a Texas based non-profit organization, focus on there essential aspects of Indian dance: learning, teaching and creating.

I felt privileged and grateful that they invited me to attend their rehearsal, taking place late in the evening after their full days’ of work. Being in their temple added to the wonder. Nestled in a small industrial setting in Hillsboro it is a modest affair, probably a rescued warehouse, lovingly devoted to Sai Baba of Shirdi.

In parallel to the strong women I’ve introduced so far, here is a strong man – or Indian spiritual master who is regarded by his devotees as a saint, a fakir, a satguru and an incarnation of Lord Shiva and Dattatreya. He was holy to both Hindus and Muslims during and after his lifetime and strongly defied conventions.

Sai Baba displayed both his disdain for the rigid formalism that Hinduism and Islam could fall prey to and his empathy for the poor and diseased.

He also condemned distinctions based on religion or caste and all forms of orthodoxy. His teachings focussed on a moral code of love, forgiveness, helping others, charity, contentment, inner peace. What’s not to like.

Join me for the dance performance tomorrow at 5:30 pm – you will be transported.

Portland Shirdi Sai Baba Temple

2110 NW Alocleck Dr. #603

Hillsboro, OR