Rukmini Vijayakumar (Bharatanatyam) - Downtown Dance Festival - August 17, 2011

Rukmini Vijayakumar dances "Shankarabharnam". The work depicts the Lord of Dance, Shankara or Shiva. Shiva is considered to be the destroyer of evil. He has various ornaments that adorn his physical form. Every ornmament that he wears has a "puranic" (Indian scriptural) story behind how they came to be worn by him. The ornaments also act as symbols of various virtues that Shiva stands for. The dancer depicts stories behind the ornaments of Shiva.

Rukmini Vijayakumar regularly performs as a Bharatanatyam soloist. She has studied since age 8 under Gurus Narmada, Padmini Rao and Sundari Santhanam. She graduated with a BFA in modern dance and ballet from the Boston Conservatory. She has studied acting at the NYFA and Ivana Chubbuck Studios in LA. She has her own dance company, Raadha Kalpa. She is a certifed Pilates mat instructor and is pursuing fitness training certifications at UCLA. She is currently pursuing a graduate program in Bharatanatyam at Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam's Shastra Unviversity.

http://www.raadhakaalpa.in

Source: Indo-American Arts Council

Erasing Borders: Festival of Indian Dance - Outdoors 2011 is presented by the Indo-American Arts Council in collaboration with Battery Dance Company's 30th Annual Downtown Dance Festival.

http://www.iaac.us
http://www.batterydance.org