WEBVTT

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(sings in foreign language)

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- I think, people
are afraid that age

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and dance don't go together,

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and they associate
it with youth.

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(sings in foreign language)

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My name is Ranee
Ramaswamy, and the art

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that I practice
is Bharatanatyam.

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(sings in foreign language)

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Bharatanatyam is one of the
five classical styles in India.

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I started learning this form

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in India when I was
about seven years old,

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came to Minneapolis in
1978 with my family.

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In 1992, I formed
Ragamala Dance Company,

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mainly to make this art form
accessible to all audiences.

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The two aspects
of Bharatanatyam,

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one is called Nrita which is
pure dance, rhythmic dance.

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It uses the entire body.

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(sings in foreign language)

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We dance bare feet, and it
uses hand gestures with it.

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The other aspect is Abhinaya
or expressive dance,

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where the dancer tells a story,

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where she is not only
describing the exterior,

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but also the interior.

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So, how she feels
or what is going on

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in that particular
time and space.

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(sings in foreign language)

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So, as Bharatanatyam dancers
start about seven years old,

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we have so much of
physical training to use

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the feet,

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the knees, the legs,

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and for us, the basic
positions, the play position.

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As you age, that play
position becomes difficult

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because your knee
starts to bother.

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When we had this two years
of not really performing

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or rehearsing together,

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I've made a conscious decision

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that I do not want to do
Nrita, rhythmic dance on stage.

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I still practice it
because it keeps you agile.

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(sings in foreign language)

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This change that I made
to concentrate more

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on the expressive aspect,

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actually, mines my
lived experience

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and understanding of myth,
stories, spirituality,

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knowledge that I have
gathered over the years,

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they all match up together.

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And so, the output that
comes out is a much more

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truthful.

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(sings in foreign language)

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Aging is a mystery, so different

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in the West versus East,

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until very recently,

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we don't have a system
where the elderly move away

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to a old age home or a
senior citizen's home.

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We all lived together, and
I lived with my grandmother,

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and my mother lives with me.

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She's 93 years old,

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and I see where
I am going to be.

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So, I think that
I'm very excited

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about the possibilities
of being old,

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yet being a carrier
of the art form.

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We all can only hope and
work towards getting older.

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As my husband says,
if we are lucky,

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we may get to see what
we can do in the future.

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But right this moment,

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I'm hoping year by year
that I can continue doing

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in a small way what I
love most, which is dance.

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(sings in foreign language)

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(bright upbeat music)