Upcoming Events:

Lotus Music & Dance 30th Anniversary Gala &

T.Balasaraswati Centenary Celebration

Program at 6PM 

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Theatre, 120 West 46th St. NY, NY 10036 

$100 VIP, $25 General Admission (program only)

Benefit Dinner at Utsav Restaurant at 8PM

1185 Avenue of the Americas, NY, NY 10036 (entrance on W46th St.)

Honoring Gale Brewer, Manhattan Borough President and

George Faison, Tony Award wining-dancer/choreographer

$500 Diamond VIP Lotus, $250 Gold Lotus, $150 Silver Lotus (includes program)

Program at 6PM

The Program will take place at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis HS Theater, will include an evening of guest speakers, performers and a screening of the 1962 Wesleyan documentary, T.Balasarasawti (Bala), in which she performs her signature piece, Krishna Ni Begane Baro. We will acknowledge the lifelong dedication of Nandini Ramani and Priyamvada Shankar to Bala's legacy. We will also pay tribute to Louise and Sam Scripps who made it possible for Bala to teach and perform here in the United States and Jon B. Higgins whose Ph.D. dissertation has made a major contribution to the understanding of Bala's repertoire. The program emcees will be Anita Ratnam and Rajika Puri.

Benefit Dinner at 8PM 

The Benefit Dinner will take place at Utsav Restaurant, where Gale Brewer and George Faison will be honored and a festive dance presentation will take place. Special guests will be recognized for their contribution and support of Lotus. The Benefit Dinner will also hold a silent auction, offering unique and beautiful items that represent our multi-cultural institution, including art, photography, specialty restaurants, and events. A Silent Auction Catalog showcasing the wide selection, from Tibetan Thangka Wall Hanging to Navajo and Zuni jewelry will be available for viewing shortly. 

For more details, contact us at (212) 627-1076 

Biographies

T. Balasaraswati (1918-1984) is considered one of India’s greatest Bharata Natyam dancers of the twentieth century. She was the seventh generation in a family that hailed from the Tanjore courts and produced dancers and musicians for some 250 years. Her mother, Jayammal was a great singer and her grandmother, Dhanammal was one of the most celebrated vina players of her time. She was trained by the eminent Kandappa Pillai, who was the great-grandson of Ponniah Pillai of the Tanjore Quartet, the four brothers who were teachers and composers responsible for codifying the Bharata Natyam training and repertoire.

Bala made her arangetram (debut) at the age of seven at the Amanakshi Amman temple at Kancheepuram to an enormous audience which included savants and rasikas (connoisseurs) of Bharata Natyam. She was
introduced to Northern Indian in 1936 by the famed dancer, Uday Shankar. In 1961, she performed at the
East/West Encounter in Tokyo and the following year embarked on a North American and European tour which started at Jacob’s Pillow. Under the auspices of the American Society for Eastern Arts, founded by Luise and Samuel Scripps she was in residence at various institutions from 1962 to1982 including Wesleyan University, UCLA, Mills College, University of Washington, Seattle, The Center for World Music (Berkeley), California Institute of the Arts and the American Dance Festival. Her brothers, T. Viswanathan (flute) and T.Ranganathan (mrdangam) who accompanied her in performance, taught music at Wesleyan University. She received some of the highest awards in her own country including the Presidental Award (1955), the Exemplary Golden Lotus (1977), an honorary degree from the Rabindra Bharati University (1964), elected president of the Madras Music Academy Conference, entitled Musical Treasure (1973) and elected the president of Indian Fine Arts Society Conference with the title Crown Jewel of Musical Art (1981). She was the subject of the documentary film, “Bala”, directed by Satyajit Ray. Balasaraswati’s complete understanding of the inter-relationship of the music and dance in Bharata Natyam along with her gifts and training enabled her to achieve high distinction as both dancer and musician.

Lotus Music & Dance, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1989 by master
Bharata Natyam dancer  Kamala Cesar. It is a performance space, sanctuary, and center of education
for traditional and indigenous performing arts forms. The mission is to keep alive and accessible the
music and dance traditions of all world cultures. Lotus Music & Dance remains the only institution of
its kind in New York City, with master artists from India, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines,
China, the South Pacific, Middle East, the Mohawk Nation, West Africa, and Spain collectively
preserving their traditional arts. Aside from our varied schedule of unique, multicultural performances,
we offer instruction in traditional ethnic forms of dance and music as well as Arts-In-Education
programs to schools throughout the tri-state area. Since 2002,  Lotus Music & Dance has presented
Manhattan's only open-air pow wow, the annual  Drums Along the Hudson®: A Native American and
Multicultural Celebration

Kamala Cesar, disciple of T. Balasaraswati (Bharata Natyam, South Indian Dance), was born in Brooklyn, NY, and is Native American (Mohawk Tribe) and Filipino. She studied Bharata Natyam (the classical dance of South India) both in the United States and in India, under T. Balasaraswati, Bharata Natyam's legendary and foremost exponent. She is one of the few American disciples carrying on the style of T. Balasaraswati in this country. Ms. Cesar has participated in programs sponsored by the American Society for Eastern Arts, the Center for World Music, Asian Traditions, The American Dance Festival, and Wesleyan University. In 1986, she was a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Folk Art Apprenticeship. She has performed extensively in the United States, Europe, and India. Ms. Cesar is the Founder and Artistic Director of Lotus Music & Dance, a not-for-profit organization that since 1989 has been supporting multicultural programs that further the understanding, appreciation, and preservation of traditional arts and the creation of new works that evolve from traditional art forms. She has produced several cross-cultural productions, including The New York Ramayana; Eagle Spirit- A Tribute to the Mohawk High Steelworkers; Message of Peace- An Excerpt from the Peacemaker's Journey; World in The City; Dancing Across Cultural Borders; World Dance Passport; and Lotus - the Energy Within. Since 2002, she has produced Drums Along the Hudson: A Native American Festival and Multicultural Celebration, Manhattan's only open-air Pow Wow celebrating Native American heritage along with world cultures and their traditional dance and drumming.

Performers

Nandini Ramani, a senior disciple of T.Balasaraswati and a Recipient of the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi Award from the President of India for her multi-faceted contribution to the field of Bharata Natyam has been groomed by her teachers Bala and K.Ganesan since 1955; she enjoyed an unbroken chain of association with them until their last days. Nandini Ramani, has been playing a vital role in preserving, and propagating the Bala tradition not only in India but also in UK, USA, France, Netherlands, and the Gulf Countries, through her performances, workshops, and lecture demonstrations. Her performances under prestigious cultural organizations, Universities, and Conservatories have received wide acclaim. Nandini is well trained in Carnatic Vocal music under Prof.B.Krishnamurti and Vidushi T.Mukta, a cousin of T.Balasaraswati. Nandini's important musical repertoire has been documented by the Department of Ethnomusicology of the University of Utrecht as part of their heritage collection.

Shrimati Priyamvada Sankar first studied with her father, Dr. V. Raghavan, an eminent Sanskrit scholar, poet and musicologist. She learned the classical Indian dance form Bharata Natyam from the legendary T.Balasaraswati. For over thirty years, Priyamvada has performed in Asia, the U.S., and Canada, in addition to giving numerous lectures on South Indian music and culture. She resides in Canada and established the first Bharata Natyam dance school in Montreal.

Kay Poursine studied with T. Balasaraswati from 1972 to 1983 at Mills College in Oakland, California, University of Washington, Seattle, the Center for World Music, Berkeley, American Dance Festival, Duke University and Wesleyan University, CT. Balasaraswati invited her to Madras (Chennai) for private classes with her and her daughter Lakshmi in 1976-77. Kay received her M.A. from Wesleyan University where she also studied music with Balasaraswati's brothers T. Viswanathan and T. Ranganathan. She studied with Bala and Lakshmi in Chennai 1982-83 with the support of the first of three Smithsonian senior fellowships under the auspices of the American Institute for Indian Studies, University of Chicago. Poursine's performances in India received rave reviews. After Balasaraswati's death in 1984, Poursine continued her studies in this family bani (style) with Bala's senior disciple Nandini Ramani in Chennai with the support of two AIIS Senior Fellowships in 1986-87 and 1990-91 and most recently in October 2016.

Bani Ray gave her first performance at the age of 6. She studied Odissi dance under some of the form's most revered gurus, such as Shri Valmiki Banerjee, Guru Durga Charan Ranbir, & the late Guru Shri Nath Raut. Apart from Odissi, she has performed extensively throughout India & abroad & received scholarships, fellowships & various awards for her expertise in the field of dance. As a joint director of Nehru Institute of Odissi Research & Training in Delhi, India, she has organized international seminars, symposia & training programs for aspiring young dancers. She has been an ICCR Panel Artist and New Jersey Arts Council Panel Artist. She is currently performing and doing in-depth research & training on the style & compositions of Guru Shri Deb Prasad Das. In December 2017 she participated in the International Odissi Dance Festival organized by the Odissi Research Center in Orissa. Since 1998 she has taught at Lotus Music & Dance & now also offers Odissi classes at the Indian Consulate.

Anita Ratnam, based in Chennai (Madras), India, is highly respected as a performer, writer, speaker and arts entrepreneur and culture mentor. She has been described as an "intersectionist", whose work weaves the many disciplines of dance, theatre, spoken word, ritual, archaeology, dramaturgy and women's issues. For over 40 years, her distinguished career has witnessed over 1300 performances in 37 countries. Her formal training in Bharata Natyam, Mohiniattam, and Kathakali has given Dr.Ratnam a distinctive movement vocabulary that she has named Neo Bharatam-a contemporary Indian kinetic situated on a mature body. Using voice, singing, Vedic hymns, drumming, contemporary mythology and devised movements, her acclaimed choreographies include Gajaanana, Daughters of the Ocean, Seven Graces, Ma3ka, A Million Sitas, Neelam and Stone. She was a founding board member of the Balasaraswati School of Music and Dance from 1985 to 1989 and of Lotus Music & Dance from 1989 to 1994. Dr Ratnam served as a member of the Executive Board of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's largest apex body for the performing arts, and the ICCR, India's Government panel to select performers for international tours, a fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a voting member of the Dance Critics Association, USA. A Ph.D. in Women’s Studies, Dr.Ratnam was awarded the Presidential Medal in 2016 for her contribution to Contemporary Dance in India. She has served as a distinguished member of several Cultural Committees and convened numerous arts festivals and performance conclaves.

Rajika Puri, trained in Bharata Natyam and Odissi which she performed internationally in solo recital (including a Command Performance for the president of Mexico), Rajika is now known both as danced storyteller (‘Sutradhari Natyam’) and for her performed slide lectures onstage - before shows, and in museums. Much in demand as Narrator/Sutradhar for festivals like Erasing Borders, and Battery Dance’s Downtown Dance Festival, she has been an inventive Sutradhar for Lotus’ own productions, such as the NY Ramayana. Co-curator - and co-presenter - of several Indian dance festivals in New York, Rajika is also a member of the NY Dance and Performance Awards (‘The Bessies’) Nominations Committee. She owes her cross-cultural/multi-arts perspective to an M.A. (NYU) in the Analysis of Movement Systems Across Cultures and to having studied ballet, modern dance (Graham & Cunningham), flamenco, as well as piano and voice. As an actress, she has been directed in theater and on film - by Julie Taymor, JoAnne Akalaitis, Mira Nair and Norman Renee. Her writings - from reviews to academic articles - have been published online and in print.

 Honorees

Past Events:

• 10/14/18: World Dance Festival 
• 08/02/18: Barefoot Dancing in the Park: Salsa
• 07/26/18: Barefoot Dancing in the Park - Sufi
• 06/03/18: Drums Along the Hudson
• 04/27-29/18: A World in Trance Festival
• 04/15/18: World Dance Passport
• 03/17/18:SIMON SHAHEEN & QANTARA with guest group Qantara Berklee Ensemble

 

Robert Browning Associates and Lotus Music & Dance present

SIMON SHAHEEN & QANTARA with guest group THE QANTARA BERKLEE ENSEMBLE

Saturday, March 17, 2018 at 8:00pm

TICKETS
$30 general admission at door
$26 students/seniors

LOCATION: 
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue (At 3rd Ave)
Downtown Brooklyn

DIRECTIONS: 

 Trains 2, 3, 4, 5, B, D, M, N, R, & Q and the LIRR arrive at Atlantic Avenue-Barclay’s Center;
G train to Fulton Street.
A, C, Trains to Hoyt-Schermerhorn

 

Robert Browning Associates and Lotus Music & Dance present

REBETIKI ISTORIA

Saturday, November 18, 2017 at 8:00pm

TICKETS
$25 general admission at door
$21 students/seniors

LOCATION: 
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue (At 3rd Ave)
Downtown Brooklyn

DIRECTIONS: 

 Trains 2, 3, 4, 5, B, D, M, N, R, & Q and the LIRR arrive at Atlantic Avenue-Barclay’s Center;
G train to Fulton Street.
A, C, Trains to Hoyt-Schermerhorn

Lotus Music & Dance and Robert Browning Associates present

World Dance Festival: Dancing Across Cultural Borders

Featuring:

Saturday November 4th 2017 at 4PM

Junko Fisher Dance Co. (Okinawan Dance)
Tibetan Song and Dance Ensemble
Sol La Argentinita Ensemble (Flamenco)

Sunday November 5th 2017 at 4PM 

Kinding Sindaw ( Filipino Tribal Dance)
Sounds of Korea
Ballet Fiesta Mexicana Ybarra

TICKETS
$15 students/seniors
$20 general admission (in advance)
$25 general admission at door
$50 Premiere Seating and Refreshments

BOTH DAYS
$36 general admission (in advance!) 

Tickets can be purchased online here

Raffle tickets can be purchased online here

Should you prefer to purchase tickets over the phone, please call 212-627-1076 or contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

LOCATION: 
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue (At 3rd Ave)
Downtown Brooklyn

DIRECTIONS: 

 Trains 2, 3, 4, 5, B, D, M, N, R, & Q and the LIRR arrive at Atlantic Avenue-Barclay’s Center;
G train to Fulton Street.
A, C, Trains to Hoyt-Schermerhorn

 

Robert Browning Associates and Lotus Music & Dance present

KEN ZUCKERMAN with NITIN MITTA

Friday, October 20, 2017at 8:30pm 

TICKETS
$26 general admission at door
$22 students/seniors

LOCATION: 
Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Peter Norton Symphony Space
2537 Broadway at 95th Street

 

Robert Browning Associates and Lotus Music & Dance present

ROHAB ENSEMBLE with vocalist SEPIDEH RAISSADAT

Saturday, October 14, 2017 at 8:00pm 

TICKETS
$32 general admission at door
$28 students/seniors

LOCATION: 
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue (At 3rd Ave)
Downtown Brooklyn

DIRECTIONS: 

 Trains 2, 3, 4, 5, B, D, M, N, R, & Q and the LIRR arrive at Atlantic Avenue-Barclay’s Center; 
G train to Fulton Street.
A, C, Trains to Hoyt-Schermerhorn

Please Join us for

Lotus Music & Dance Showcase

Featuring Bharata Natyam, Odissi, Kathak, Hula and Tahitian

WHEN: 
Sunday, September 24th, 2017
2PM

Tickets
$15 students/seniors
$20 general admission
$10 earlybird tickets available until September 18th !!!
Tickets can be purchased online here
Should you prefer to purchase tickets over the phone, please call 212-627-1076 or contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

LOCATION: 
The Main Street Theatre & Dance Alliance
Located at the Roosevelt Island Cultural Center
548 Main St. on Roosevelt Island

DIRECTIONS: 

 The F Train There is a Roosevelt Island/Main St Stop on the F-Train. Get off there and walk about 5-6 blocks north to 248 Main St. (or take the free Red Bus 3 stops north.)
-----------------
Tramway Get to 59th St and 2nd Ave Take the Roosevelt Island Tramway to Roosevelt Island. (You must have a Metrocard- it's the same as a subway ride) Walk north on Main St approx. 5 blocks (or take the free Red Bus 3 stops north.)
-----------------
Driving from Manhattan Go over the 59th St Bridge /Upper Roadway (access from 57th St.) Stay Right at the fork and when you get on the street (21st or 22nd,) make a left to 43rd Ave and make a right. The last cross street on 43rd Ave is Vernon Blvd. Make a right on Vernon and head north to 36th St. The 36th St Bridge goes across onto Roosevelt Island. 548 Main St is just a few blocks south on Roosevelt Island.

Learn about worldwide dance and Lotus' mission. See dance demonstrations by students and instructors. Have the opportunity to meet and speak with Lotus instructors. Participate in the Lotus Raffle for fabulous prizes. Refreshments will be served! 

Lotus Music & Dance and Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez

Invite You to The 15th Annual

Drums Along the Hudson 

Native American and Multicultural Celebration

WHEN: 

Sunday, June 4th, 2017

FREE!

LOCATION: 

11AM to 6PM at Inwood Hill Park
218th Street & Indian Rd. in Northern Manhattan
4 Blocks West of Broadway (#1 and A Trains) 

Drummers and Dancers from Around the World, Pow Wow, Native Arts & Crafts, Environmental Tent, Story Telling, International Foods

Honoring: The Children's Cultural Center of Native America and Rhonda Ross-- Singer, Songwriter, Philanthropist

 Featuring groups such as:

Drummers and Dancers from Around the World, Pow Wow, Native Arts & Crafts, Environmental Tent, Story Telling, International Foods

Lotus Music & Dance and Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez

Invite You to

CAR FREE NYC:

Earth Day Celebration

WHEN: 
Saturday April 22, 2017
10AM-4PM

FREE!

LOCATION: 
Uptown Manhattan, Saint Nicholas Avenue
from 181st Street - 190th Street
(Lotus performances will take place at stage 2 btw 186th and 187th)

In Uptown Manhattan, Saint Nicholas Avenue from 181st Street - 190th Street will go car free!  With thousands of people traveling through this area of our district every day, we are working with the Washington Heights Business Improvement District to plan a host of activities, programming, and events brought to the streets! 

 One of these events will be our very own artists performing. These performances include: 

Native American - John Scott Richardson
Filipino Tribal Dance- Kinding Sindaw
West African Drumming- Caren Calder
Hula- Makalina
& more!

Featuring: 

Kinding Sindaw (Filipino Tribal Dance)

Junko Fisher (Okinawan Dance)

Gorana Dance (Bulgarian)

Saung Budaya (Indonesian)

Tibetan Song and Dance

Fiesta Mexicana

with special guests

Mariachi Flor de Toloache, NYC's only all girl Mariachi Band!  

Lotus Music & Dance and Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez

In Collaboration with United Palace of Cultural Arts

Invite You to a Celebration of Cultural Diversity

WORLD DANCE PASSPORT

TRAVEL THE WORLD THROUGH DANCE 

WHEN: 
Saturday May 20, 2017
2PM

FREE!
RSVP by May 10th
To RSVP, please call (212)627-1076
or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

LOCATION: 
United Palace Theater
4140 Broadway between 175th and 176th Sts