Before Bharathanatyam came into my life,  Hip Hop was the music I related to as I grew up in 90s Australia. It got me through my childhood. Feeling like a minority, the music and it's culture felt like it gave me a voice and a sense of belonging. The vibe of hip hop and the beats is something I definitely connected to. 

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Later on in life when I began to dance classical Indian dancing, namely Bharathanatyam, I couldn't help but feel the connection between the beats the rapping and the Jethi. I had always seen and felt this similarity.  Even though they are from very different backgrounds, they met somewhere in the middle.

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Through Shastram I have been exploring this idea further. First with Time Lapse, then through Journeys of Indian Classical Dancers

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Now through Battle of the Beats. Let's challenge the similarities and the differences in both styles. With this idea in mind we have brought together some amazing artists Madurai R Muralidaran, Kavya Muralidara, David Rahman and Nomadic come together to battle it out!