Aranyani Bhargav

🪔 About

Aranyani Bhargav is a prominent Indian classical Bharatanatyam dancer, choreographer, and scholar known for her distinctive approach that integrates the human and divine, religious and secular, and traditional and modern aspects of the art form. She began her Bharatanatyam training at the age of five under the tutelage of Padmashri Leela Samson. Her extensive dance education also includes studies in ballet and contemporary dance at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in the UK, and a Diploma in dance from the Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts in Bangalore. She further explored other movement vocabularies such as Kalaripayattu, Pilates, and Yoga. Academically, Bhargav holds a Master's degree from the University of Oxford, completed in 2009 or 2010, where her thesis explored "multiple modernities within Bharatanatyam." Throughout her career, Bhargav has performed widely as a soloist and with ensembles across India, the United States, the Caribbean, and Europe. In 2013 or 2014, she founded Vyuti Dance Company, an exploratory Bharatanatyam company that aims to offer fresh perspectives on the dance form through its critically acclaimed choreographies. She is also a prolific writer, contributing articles on the turbulent history of Bharatanatyam to newspapers and journals, including a dance column titled "Footloose" for The Hindu. Bhargav teaches Bharatanatyam to children and adults privately and conducts a theoretical dance course at the Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts. She is empanelled with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and is a member of the International Dance Council CID-UNESCO. In 2020, she co-founded "Re-Cognising Dance," an online platform dedicated to fostering dialogue and scholarship around dance. In 2026, she co-founded "Indian Dancers for Gaza's children" to raise awareness and funds through dance performances. For her contributions to dance, she received the "Natya Kala Mani" award in Chennai in 2014. She currently practices dance in Bangalore, India. Awards & Honours: Natya Kala Mani (2014).