Dance Centre Publication
A Conversation with Anusha Fernando on the Coming Together of Sky Dancers
Editor's Note
Welcome to the Summer 2024 issue of Dance Central.
This summer has been an extraordinary one for the world of dance, especially with the historic win of Phil Wizard, in the breaking category at the 2024 Paris Olympics! From its beginnings in the Bronx in the 1970s to its debut on the global stage, breakdancing has soared to new heights, and entered the stage of contemporary dance as well. We were thrilled to have Phil Wizard pen the International Dance Day Message as our ambassador this year, where he shared his passion for dance and what it means to him. Congratulations, Phil!
In this special issue, we had the privilege of speaking with Anusha Fernando about her upcoming show at The Dance Centre. Sky Dancers is a captivating project that pushes the boundaries of traditional Bharatanatyam, exploring the spiritual essence of the form. Rooted in Zen Buddhist philosophy, Anusha and her fellow dancers—Arno Kamolika, Kiruthika Rathanaswami, Malavika Santhosh, Ashvini Sundaram, and Sujit Vaidya—emphasize process over product, exploring themes of stillness, presence, and collaboration. The result is a performance reflecting deep interpersonal connections and artistic transformation.
We thank Anusha for her longstanding collaboration with The Dance Centre, and we welcome new writing and project ideas at any time to make Dance Central a more vital link to the community. Please send materials by email to editor@thedancecentre.ca. We look forward to many more conversations!
Shanny Rann Editor
Anusha Fernando Shakti Dance Sky Dancers © Diane Smithers
Anusha Fernando Sky Dancers © Yasuhiro Okada
Dancing from the Point of Stillness: A Conversation with Anusha Fernando
On the Coming Together of Sky
by Shanny Rann
Dancers
Anusha Fernando’s journey in Indian classical dance is not just about mastering a form but about exploring deeper spiritual and artistic questions. Her latest work, Sky Dancers, is a testament to her belief in the power of stillness, presence, and community in dance. Through her work, she continues to push the boundaries of tradition, inviting both dancers and audiences to engage in a shared, transformative experience.
In this insightful interview, Anusha Fernando of Shakti Dance, a seasoned Indian classical dance artist specializing in Bharatanatyam, shares her journey in dance, her deep connection with spirituality, and her latest creative endeavour, Sky Dancers. Her conversation with Dance Central reveals the intersection of movement and stillness, tradition and innovation, and the personal and communal aspects of her artistic practice.
Shanny Rann (SR): Welcome, Anusha! I am glad you are joining us today. Is this your first interview with Dance Central?
Anusha Fernando (AF): Yes, it is, actually.
SR: What took us so long? Well finally, we are here. Could you briefly introduce yourself to our readers?
AF: I am an Indian classical dance artist specializing in Bharatanatyam, which is a South Indian classical dance. I have been training in this form for about 35 years, and it has been a rich journey. I founded Shakti Dance Society in 2004. Initially the focus
The African Dream poster © izofilm
was on training and production but now by attention has shifted towards creative projects and facilitating other dancers. I am currently working on a dance piece that The Dance Centre will present in early October 2024.
The Dance Journey
SR: I love the title Sky Dancers! Could you talk a little bit more about your dance journey? How were you initiated into dance, and who were your teachers?
AF: I attended McGill University in Montreal, where I pursued a degree in Religious Studies
Artists of Dance//Novella © Racheal Prince and Brandon Alley
Dance Central
The Dance Centre
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Dance Central is published quarterly by The Dance Centre for its members and for the dance community. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent Dance Central or The Dance Centre. The editor reserves the right to edit for clarity or length, or to meet house requirements.
Editor, Art Director & Layout
Shanny Rann
Copy Editor
Kaia Shukin
Design Layout
Becky Wu
Contributors to this issue:
Anusha Fernando, Shanny Rann
Photo credits
Front Cover: Anusha Fernando Shakti
Dance Sky Dancers © Diane Smithers
Back Cover: Anusha Fernando Sky
Dancers © Yasuhiro Okada
Dance Centre Board Members:
Chair
Linda Gordon
Vice Chair
Andrea Reid
Secretary
Tin Gamboa
Treasurer
Mark Weston
Directors
Jennifer Aoki, Yvonne Chartrand, Judith Garay, Arash Khakpour, Anndraya Luui
Dance Foundation Board
Members:
Chair Linda Blankstein
Vice-Chair Andrea Benzel
Secretary Anndraya Luui
Treasurer Janice Wells
Director Samantha Luo
Dance Centre Staff:
Executive Director
Mirna Zagar
Associate Programming Director
Raquel Alvaro
Associate Producer
Linda Blankstein
Director of Marketing
Heather Bray
Digital Marketing Coordinator
Lindsay Curtis
Development Manager
Catherine Butler
Membership Coordinator
Kaia Shukin
Outreach Coordinator
Yurie Kaneko
Technical Director
Victoria Bell
Comptroller
Elyn Dobbs
Venue and Services Manager
Crystal Lai
Founded in 1986 as a leading dance resource centre for dance professionals and the public in British Columbia, The Dance Centre is a multifaceted organization. The Dance Centre presents an exciting season of shows and events, serves a broad membership of 300 professional dance companies and individual artists, and offers a range of activities unparalleled in Canadian dance. The Dance Centre is BC's primary resource centre for the dance profession and the public. The activities of The Dance Centre are made possible bynumerous individuals. Many thanks to our members, volunteers, community peers, board of directors and the public for your ongoing commitment to dance in BC. Your suggestions and feedback are always welcome. The operations of The Dance Centre are supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Province of British Columbia, the BC Arts Council, and the City of Vancouver through the Office of Cultural Affairs.
with a focus on Hinduism and Buddhism. In one of my classes, I saw a video of an Indian classical dancer, and I had this strange, powerful feeling that I was meant to do that. Despite not being a physical person or having any background in dance, I felt a deep resonance with the form.
I was introduced to Jai Govinda, who became my first teacher. I moved to Vancouver to pursue a master's degree at UBC, and Jai lived in the basement of my house for five years while we trained intensively. That traditional and relationship-based training deeply influenced my practice.
Later, I went to India to study with Jayalakshmi Eshwar, whom Jai has worked with before. She is also a significant teacher, with whom I share a deep relationship and taught me many beautiful dance repertoires. My training has always been very relationship-based and personal, quite different from how Bharatanatyam is often learned today via videos and online resources.
SR: Could you give us a timeline of your training years?
AF: I started training with Jai around 1989, and I completed my Arangetram, a traditional graduation performance, in 1995. This performance is like an initiation into professional dance life, where you perform a two-hour solo. It is a significant milestone in a dancer’s journey.
SR: The Arangetram is like the PhD of dance training, is it not?
AF: It definitely marks a milestone and is an indication of intensive training but it actually means, "entering the stage". It is just the beginning of one’s dance journey. Most importantly, it is a celebration of your relationship with your teacher and community.
SR: I am curious about how your academic pursuits in religious studies influenced your dance practice. How does your interest in religion feed into your inspiration as a dancer?
AF: I have always been interested in meditative practice and rituals that express the unseen. Bharatanatyam, as a devotional practice, resonates deeply with me, especially during a difficult time when I lost my best friend. Dance became a way to process grief and allowed me to connect to something larger than myself. My work is very spiritually based, exploring connections between stillness and movement, presence, and the mysteries of life. This has always been my focus, rather than the performative aspect of dance.
About Sky Dancers
SR: Could you tell us about the inspiration behind your upcoming piece, Sky Dancers?
AF: The initial seed for Sky Dancers came from my Zen Buddhist practice and my experience watching a livestream meditation session from a Buddhist monastery during the pandemic. I was struck by how many people were looking at the monastics sitting still and realized there is a fascination and need for that! So, I had an
idea of making a piece that was like looking into a Zendo or meditation hall.
This piece explores the concept of stillness holding movement and vice versa, dancing from a still point, and the vastness and mystery of the mind. It features eight people sitting still on stage while dancers manifest different energetic principles around them. We have included chanting and the dancers vocalizing, which is unusual for an Indian classical dance performance.
We are exploring what emerges from the connection between all these bodies and all these textures on the stage.
Jai Govinda and Anusha Fernando © Ron Sangha
SR: How did the idea for this project come about, and what were some of the challenges you and the other dancers faced during the process?
AF: This year-long project emerged from bringing together dancers who were already presenting work as professionals but felt isolated. We came together to talk about our struggles and the issues we were facing as artists, which turned out to be very similar struggles—a real need for support and sharing resources. There is a gap within our community in terms of what comes after intense training. How do you transition from being a student to becoming an artist? This mentorship is lacking in Indian classical dance.
Amid the discussions, we started to explore choreography collaboratively, which was a new and completely unfamiliar process for us. Part of Bharatanatyam training is to obliterate the personal and as dancers, we are used to hierarchical and singularvoiced training methods. To be a good Bharatanatyam dancer, you have to say yes to the teacher, but at some point, artists need to have questions. These are some real tensions that we are facing as contemporary Indian classical dancers. Such collaborative process allowed everyone to have a voice in the room, which was unusual, but also deeply rewarding.
Anusha Fernando Sky Dancers © Yasuhiro Okada
To be a good Bharatanatyam dancer, you have to say yes to the teacher, but at some point, artists need to have questions.
SR: Could you share a bit more about this struggle of positioning yourself as a contemporary artist while rooted in a traditional dance form?
AF: One of my goals of Sky Dancers is to showcase classical dancers' individual artistic expressions as a way of moving beyond the perceived limitations of the traditional form. These are dance artists with their own expressions—they are not just the dance form. Despite some having similar training, they are also using the form to express their individual artistic voices. Indian classical dancers are often stereotyped as cultural products and seen as a cultural form rather than as contemporary artists. By showing how classical dancers are using the traditional vocabulary in unique and innovative ways, I hope my piece can undermine such essentializing gaze towards Indian classical dancers and demonstrate the diversity and contemporary relevance of Bharatanatyam.
SR: The fact that you dedicated a full year to addressing issues and developing relationships among the dancers is remarkable. I believe that the time spent together and the rich conversations you have had will be evident in the performance when you take the stage.
AF: This was a group that I had already identified as people who would actually be interested to come with me on this journey of unpacking. It was not so much about me telling them how to do it, but more about collectively putting out into the public our private reflections and struggles we were experiencing as Indian classical dancers.
I am really surprised by what emerged, and I feel everyone has been really sparked by this project. It is not even about the production but more about the process behind it. It is important to provide a space for dancers to articulate and share their artistic concerns. It is an exciting time for this community in Vancouver. I hope this reflective process will carry on way past this project.
SR: Do you see the collaborative choreographic process behind Sky Dancers as a potential model for other Bharatanatyam dancers?
AF: I think it really depends on the artist and their interests, but in this model, everyone is definitely contributing and learning something, including myself. It has been amazing facilitating, because that is really all I see myself as: a facilitator to manifest the voices of these artists. I don't think I could have done it at this level if I did not already have a very close relationship with the dancers.
The trust and familiarity we felt for one another was essential for facilitating an open and reflective dialogue that would eventually shape the choreography of Sky Dancers. Maybe that is where art really comes from—relationships. It is not just about what we are doing on stage but about the conversations and support systems we are building behind the scenes.
The Role of The Dance Centre
SR: You have been involved with The Dance Centre for many years. How has this relationship influenced your practice?
AF: My relationship with The Dance Centre is deeply rooted in my teacher, Jai Govinda's connection with them. He pioneered Indian classical dance in Vancouver and situated it within the broader dance community, not just as a cultural form for festivals. This has been crucial in ensuring the support and visibility
It is not even about the production but more about the process behind it.
of our work. Hats off to The Dance Centre who have continuously supported us over the years, recognizing the value of Bharatanatyam to the dance cultures of British Columbia. I hope their support will continue to evolve and expand as they recognize and support us as cultural representatives and also as contemporary dance artists.
SR: Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?
AF: Sky Dancers is an invitation for the audience to enter a shared space, much like entering a temple. It is not just a performance but an experience where the audience's attention and stillness are integral to the piece.
Catch Sky Dancers, a mesmerizing performance by Anusha Fernando and Shakti Dance, where tradition meets innovation at The Dance Centre this October 2024. This powerful work, emerging from a year-long collaboration, delves into the essence of Bharatanatyam through the lens of the Dakini, a Buddhist symbol of dynamic energy.
Anusha Fernando is the Artistic Director of Shakti Dance and began her study of Bharatanatyam in 1990. She is a student of renowned teachers Jayalakshmi Eshwar and Jai Govinda. In 1995, she completed her Arangetram (traditional graduation performance) as a student of the Jai Govinda Dance Academy. She continues to study in both Canada and India. Anusha’s work has focused on showcasing the depth of
Bharatanatyam's solo repertoire and its interdisciplinary potential. In recognition of her dedication to performing and disseminating Bharatanatyam, Anusha has received awards from the Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, City of Vancouver, and the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute. Anusha holds an honors degree in Religious Studies from McGill University and a Master's degree in Asian Studies from UBC.
Anusha Fernando Sky Dancers © Yasuhiro Okada
