Born in Madras, Aniruddha Knight represents the ninth generation of one of India’s most distinguished artistic families. His grandmother was Balasaraswati, the pioneering Bharata Natyam specialist who made her U.S. debut at the Pillow in 1962. Bala’s daughter Lakshmi was the star attraction of the performance seen here, which opened with two solos performed by her then 16-year-old son making his professional debut. He has since gone on to perform both in India and the U.S., including a return engagement to the Pillow in 2010. In 2012, he founded the Balasaraswati Scripps Foundation in Chennai, India, to house Luise Scripps’s collection of dance books, papers, articles, and photographs. Customarily the second work in a Bharata Natyam recital, the Jatisvaraman is an elaborate pure dance form rich in rhythmic patterns.
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