How a woman and her daughters founded a revolutionary Indian dance company

Ranee Ramaswamy believes that her oldest daughter was here on earth to dance.

Ramaswamy claims, "We all ponder prior lives and reincarnation. She was certain about Aparna Ramaswamy, her firstborn child. She may have been a dancer in a prior life, making dancing natural for her. She has never strayed since she was three years old.

Thus, Ranee established the Ragamala Dance Company in Minneapolis 30 years ago, partially as a platform for her gifted daughter. Since then, Ragamala has gained notoriety among followers of Bharatanatyam, the oldest classical dance style of India, in the United States. The dance group consistently receives high praise for the performers' technical mastery, transcendent spirituality, and cutting-edge artistic partnerships.

Ranee has dedicated her life to building the business, which she now shares with her daughters. The company's co-artistic directors are Ranee and Aparna, while Ashwini Ramaswamy, Aparna's younger sister, works there as a dancer, choreographer, and director of communications. Every woman offers a unique set of skills to the household business. “If Aparna is the head of the company and Ranee is its soul, then Ashwini is, perhaps, its heart.”

When I'm around my mother and sister, I get a certain vibe. It's an unquantifiable high, claims Ashwini Ramaswamy. "It's great when I watch them perform on stage from the wings when I'm performing and I see them watching me from the wings, and when we're both on stage. And I'm not sure how else I might feel that way if we weren't cooperating.

The Ramaswamy family performs Bharatanatyam, a difficult religious style of dance meant to induce a sense of spiritual joy. It incorporates deft footwork, motions with the hands, facial expressions, and even eye movements. According to the eldest sister Aparna Ramaswamy, the common ideals of this mother-daughter partnership are what motivates and sustains them in their work.

"This deep love for this art form, this deep value of discipline, dedication, excellence and reac,hing for something that is so much bigger than us," she says.

Being a family strengthens dancing, according to Aparna. However, Ashwini, the younger sister, adds that it's not always simple. She makes note of the dance-based bond her mother and Aparna shared before she was even born.

She continues, "So I'm kind of fighting against that." What can I do that's different from what has already been delivered to me, I ask myself?

Part of the spirit of their dancing is the struggle with that dilemma. They are the uncommon sort of family, according to Aparna, who can give and receive criticism with the confidence that it is based on love. This helps.

“When you're a creative person or when you're an artist, it can be a very lonely journey. And so the fact that you have built-in companions on that journey is such a gift.”

"And that's a wonderful thing," she adds. "Because being a creative person or an artist can be a very isolating path. Therefore, it is such a blessing that you have built-in traveling friends. 

Despite turning 71 lately, mother Ranee Ramaswamy says she has no plans to stop performing anytime soon.

She chuckles,"The one thing, to have two daughters in the company, is that they will tell me when I should get out, I am confident, Because you can't rely on other people! All they'll say is, "Oh, you look good." However, I am aware of two individuals who will advise me to quit, and when they do, I will stop.

Mother and daughters will continue to dance together until that time, calling forth the divine and inspiring one another to achieve greater heights.