We begin our Bharatanatyam journey as solo artists. The arangetram, presented through the margam – the sequence of items in a Bharatanatyam dance recital – represents a carefully structured arc that has long served as a measure of accomplishment and readiness. Today, the margam persists as the dominant framework for the art form. But why? What does the solo repertoire offer us now, beyond mastery and tradition?

In this solo performance, Rasika Kumar returns intentionally to the foundational margam, not as a fixed relic, but as a living form capable of holding contemporary experience. Thirty years after her arangetram, and as she begins teaching her own children, questions of lineage and inheritance come into sharp focus: how do we honor tradition while remaining honest about who we are today, and what do we choose to carry forward? As Indian American practitioners, we often embody temples we have not seen, rituals we have not lived, and stories inherited across oceans and generations. This work asks how these inherited images and myths can be made alive again, through personal connection, for ourselves and the next generation.

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