Subhashini Goda, dancer and ethnochoreographer, introduces Bharatanatyam, an intricate Indian classical dance form that is a heady mix of complex rhythms and intricate storytelling through body expression.

General workshop for beginners and enthusiasts!

Three hours.

No prior training required.

Non-restrictive clothes that facilitate movement.

No shoes while dancing.

This workshop is to generally introduce the classical south Indian dance form Bharatanatyam, and attempt to build space for alternative ways of thinking about dance

through it. Beginning with a warm up session, we’ll first explore some steps (called ‘adavus’ in Tamizh language) to understand the basic postures and foundational

movements in the form. Then we’ll continue with learning some hand and eye gestures, and implementing them in story telling. The workshop will not be gruelling, although initially the form might feel slightly alien and daunting for first time dancers, especially because the syllables recited are in a different language and the foundational posture is similar to a demi-plié. However, everything will be translated and explained to make the participants comfortable and feel a sense of community. The takeaway is to get everyone together to participate in creating a short story using the gestures and movement they’ve learnt, thereby enriching their imaginative vocabulary.

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Subhashini Goda is an interdisciplinary performing artist, researcher, teacher, and a poet from Chennai, India, specialising in the dance form of Bharatanatyam. With a masters in English literature and another in Dance Anthropology, the core of her artistic practice revolves around traditions, transgressions, and memories. She is currently pursuing an interdisciplinary PhD at University College Dublin and is interested in integrating, collaborating, and learning with the Irish community.

Her research interests incline towards performative practices from India and the Indian diaspora, politics, identity, migration and memory. Having trained in Bharatanatyam since five years of age under different teachers, her artistic practice is a series of experiments with different forms of movement, embedded in memories of growing up in a multilingual, multicultural neighbourhood layered with simple everyday narratives of literature, rituals, storytelling, and philosophy.

With proven experience in dance research and pedagogy, choreography, performance, project coordination, people management, administration, and cultural production, she also possesses a successful record of planning, coordinating and executing festivals, workshops and performances.