Sharing the transformative power of Indian dance

With a new dance festival lined up for September, Cardiff- based arts organisation Samarpan is gearing up to take Indian arts and culture to an ever-wider audience. Its founders told Jenny White what's in store

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IT STARTED out as a dance school teaching the classic Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam, but since its formation in 2017, Samarpan's reach has broadened, bringing Indian arts and culture to a growing number of people in Cardiff and beyond.

Founded by Dr Leena Menon and Dr Santosh Nair, Samarpan's name translates as "dedication" or "surrender" and its aim is to share Indian classical arts with communities through dance, music, festivals, education and more.

South Wales and particularly Cardiff has one of the UK's oldest south Asian communities, and Samarpan's aim is "to honour the past, enrich the present, and inspire the future through the transformative power of south Asian music and dance".

"We wanted to pass the torch on to the next generation in the right ways, not just through learning, but also for people to find that inspiration with other artists, to grow together, and to find opportunities to bridge not just our own cultures, but also to understand and empathise with every culture, and find connection when they communicate through arts," says Nair.

Samarpan's three pillars are performance, outreach and education. The latter includes dance classes at the Heath Community Centre in Cardiff and online music sessions with a teacher based in India.

"She's one of the most senior disciples of the legendary Bombay Jayashri, and she's been kind enough to share the music with our students," says Nair.