Aniruddha Knight (November 13, 1980) is an artist of the Indian classical dance and music known as Bharatanatyam.[1][2][3] He is a 9th-generation descendant of a 200-year-old family of dancers and musicians from southern India.[2][3] The dances are traditionally performed by women - Knight is unusually the first male of his family to take up this style of dance.[3] His grandmother Balasaraswati was a celebrated and prolific dancer, Newsweek said she has been "recognized as the greatest Indian dancer of all time".[3][4][5]

Early life and family

Born on November 13, 1980, Aniruddha Knight spent his growing years both in India and the United States of America.[5] His father is an American, Douglas Knight, who married into the family when he studied classical drumming on a South Indian mridangam at Wesleyan University, where Aniruddha's late grandmother T. Balasaraswati and her two musician brothers had taught since 1962.[5] Aniruddha's childhood was an endless round of dancing. Initiated into the family's style of art by an aging Balasaraswati, Aniruddha's first formal lessons began at the age of six with mother Lakshmi, Balasaraswati's daughter.[6]

Training

A trained classical dancer, Aniruddha Knight brings intrinsic exposure to the varied nuances of Bharatnatyam and Carnatic Music. Traditionally Bharatanatyam was a way of life requiring complete devotion, and in the case of the Balasaraswatis, a performing family that completely embraced the art.[7]

Having received intensive Bharatnatyam lessons as well as vocal training from his mother Lakshmi Knight, Aniruddha's classical music skills were further honed by T. Muktha and T. Viswanathan. Currently under the tutelage of Smt. Veghavahini, daughter of T. Brinda, for vocal music and the Veena, Aniruddha continues to take advanced lessons from Shyamala Mohan, one of Balasaraswati's key disciples.[8]

Career

Aniruddha Knight is the artistic director of Bala Music & Dance, a school of dancing in Middletown. His debut performance at the Jacob Pillow Festival (1997) in Massachusetts, began his career in the arts. He was featured in Newsweek magazine as one of 16 youngsters poised to re-shape India's future.[9]

In 2008, he was chosen for the National Dance Project Grant, which recognized Bharatanatyam as a mainstream contemporary art form in the U.S. and covered a four-month tour across the United States.[6]

In January 2012, Aniruddha founded the Balasaraswati Scripps Foundation in Chennai, India. Established as an offshoot of the Balasaraswati Performing Arts Centre, supported by the Samuel Scripps Foundation, it houses Louise Scripps’ collection of books, papers, articles and photographs on the history of dance as well as the Dhanammal school, which remains open to researchers.[10]

Grants and awards

Aniruddha Knight has been the recipient of several grants from the US government.

  • New Jersey Council for the Arts 1997, 1999
  • Asian Cultural Council - 1997, 2007
  • The LEF Foundation- 2004, 2008
  • National Endowment for the Arts 2005[11]
  • NEFA’s National Dance Project grant 2008[12]
  • New England Foundation for Arts 2011[13][14]

References

  1. ↑ "19-year-old keeps alive his Indian dance heritage", The Herald-Sun Durham, NC - Sunday, July 2, 2000
  2. 1 2 Janani Sampath (11 September 2013). "To dance like a man". New Indian Express. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Jennifer Dunning (December 6, 2005). "DANCE REVIEW; A Family's Moves, Centuries Old". The New York Times. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
  4. ↑ Douglas M. Knight Jr., Balasaraswati: Her Art and Life, Wesleyan University Press (June, 2010) - Pages: xvii, 17,246,248-250,249.251.
  5. 1 2 3 Vibhuti Patel. "Dance, Indian Style", Newsweek, April 2008
  6. 1 2 Gowri Ramnarayan "It is not entertainment", The Hindu, August 28, 2009, 28th.
  7. ↑ Sandhya Kumar, "A Life That Was Art: The Dancer Balasaraswati", AsiaSociety.org, June 24, 2010.
  8. ↑ Sujata Srinivasan, "Heir to a Weighty Legacy", CT Indian Legacy, March 2008, Vol: 2, No: 3.
  9. ↑ "Daylight's Children", Newsweek, August 1997.
  10. ↑ Gowri Ramnarayan "Throwing light on a magnificent tradition", The Hindu, Dec 15, 2006.
  11. ↑ "National Endowment for the Arts - Annual Report 2005", page 64.
  12. ↑ "New England Foundation for the Arts - Annual Report 2007" Archived 2012-04-16 at the Wayback Machine, page 20
  13. ↑ ""Faculty Publications, Grants, and Awards - Bates 2010-11"" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-01-14. Retrieved 2013-02-22.
  14. ↑ ""New England Foundation for the Arts - Annual Report 2011"" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-16. Retrieved 2013-02-22.
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