LEXINGTON, Ky. — The month of May honors the history and celebrates Asian-American and Pacific Islander heritage.

What You Need To Know

  • May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage month

  • Lakshmi Sriraman uses a grant from the Kentucky Foundation of Women to educate audiences through art

  • The Lexington based teacher uses multiple forms of art which includes Bharatanatyam, a classical Indian dance

Recently, the Kentucky Foundation for Women awarded a grant to Lakshmi Sriraman to expand education and artistic expression through Bharatanatyam, a traditional Indian dance.

Sriraman lives in Lexington. She teaches the South Asian classical dance and is performing a series of dances virtually, due to COVID-19 pandemic.

“Most recently, through the grant that they got from Kentucky Foundation for Women in Neeri, I am using theater and anchoring my work on South Ind​ian Tamil theater specifically to tell a very eco-feminist story,” Sriraman said.

She creates through multiple art forms which include jewelry making, painting and dance.

Lakshmi Sriraman show the tradition South Indian dance called Bharatanatyam in her home studio in Lexington. (Spectrum News 1/Khyati Patel)

 

“I see myself as a storyteller, whether it's on stage dancing or on a canvas,” Sriraman said. “When I was young, I started training in Bharatanatyam. It's a South Indian traditional dance, art form and that's where my traditional training is,” Sriraman said.

Her works center on telling a story – she incorporates canvases she’s painted as props into Bharatanatyam.

“I’m not your traditional Bharatanatyam dancer or teacher,” Sriraman said.

Bharatanatyam is considered one of the oldest classical dances in India using precise facial expressions along with hand gestures.

“I started integrating spoken words, silence, props, as all ways of telling those stories,” Sriraman said.

That’s because her work has evolved into more than just dance. Through her artistic expression, Sriraman hopes to invoke curiosity within her audience and expand a wide array of thought. Now she’s trying to educate others in order to shed labels and break down barriers.

"I think, as a Southeast Asian artist who navigates this space in Kentucky, I find that fascinating because people want to put me in a box,” Sriraman said.

She hopes through her art, people will see there’s more to a person than meets the eye.

“You are so much more than your label. We are all so much more than our labels,” Sriraman said.

The classical Indian dance teacher said she just completed a virtual performance in May through Berea College.