The Thanjavur performance that made classical dance speak to everyone

Bharatanatyam dancer Vidya Bhavani Suresh broke tradition on a 1994 evening at Thanjavur’s Brihadeeswara Temple. Before each piece, she stopped and told the audience in Tamil what the movements meant.

Classical recitals at the time rarely paused for explanation. Suresh, then in her twenties, wanted first-time viewers to follow the stories, emotions, and gestures woven into alarippu, varnam, and padam.

After the performance, an elderly man approached her with tears in his eyes. “He gave me Rs 11, which was a significant amount then,” said Suresh, now 56. “That was a sign that I was on the right track.”

Three decades on, that audience-first instinct guides her work. She holds that classical art lands more deeply when people understand it. Many new viewers find Bharatanatyam intimidating. The form layers footwork, hand gestures, facial expression, rhythm, and narrative, and audiences often react to cues others miss.

Suresh’s approach helped shift how the art is experienced. The Better India now cites her as a key figure in making classical performance more accessible.