Connecting the Dots Between Two Cultures | Inside Out: A Conversation with Srija Wang

Welcome to Inside Out, a conversation series grounded in a method of slowness. Today's guest is Srija Wang, a Bharatanatyam artist trained in the Kalakshetra style under Guru Banshri Bhavi Shankar and Guru Kalayimamani Rohakanan. She’s trained rigorously since 2015, completed her arangetram in Chennai in 2023, and has continued into advanced karanas training under Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam, while also leading her own school, Nrityaarpana School of Bharatanatyam. Her work is rooted in tradition while also exploring how movement can operate across cultures and historical lineages. She speaks about Bharatanatyam as a bridge between Indian and Chinese traditions. Her production Kalāsangama is a way of tracing artistic exchange along the Silk Road.

ELSEHERE: We begin from the belief that an artist is never only their finished work. A practice is also shaped by memory, discipline, contradiction, devotion, study, and the life conditions that motivate them to continue pushing their work. Srija, thank you for being here. 

Srija Wang: Hi, my name is Srija Wang. I'm a Boston-based Bharatanatyam dancer and teacher. I established my school under the Arpana School of Bharatanatyam in 2023 and finished my arangetram the same year. I trained in the basics for 5 years in the U.S. first, and then I went to Chennai. Since 2019, I've been going to Chennai to train under gurus, such as Roja Kannan and Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam.

ELSEHERE: Amazing! Before Bharatanatyam became a serious part of your life, what first drew you towards the movement at all? 

Srija Wang: I think what drew me to Bharatanatyam is the music. For the past 10 years, I was working a corporate job as a UI/UX designer. I first heard Bollywood music when I was doing Bollywood dance and then was exposed to Indian classical music. I don't have the words for it, but I fell in love and felt an instant connection with Indian classical music. People suggested that if I really want to learn the root of the culture, I should learn Indian classical dance instead of doing Bollywood. I thought, why not? There are different styles of Indian classical dance, so I randomly picked one and decided to try a few classes. After that, there was no turning back.

ELSEHERE: I love that. But your journey into dance doesn't just start with classical Indian training or Bollywood. When did dance stop being for enjoyment alone and transition into a study or structure that you take responsibility over?

Srija Wang: I started my dance journey during college with belly dance, which I practiced and performed for 12 years. I also explored other styles, including ballet for 5 years, Indian folk, contemporary, and folkloric dances, but none of it stuck as long as belly dancing until COVID, when it started fading out. I think the reason why Bharatanatyam stuck with me is that it has deeper spiritual meanings that resonate with me. When I started doing Bharatanatyam, I always loved it even though I was a beginner trying to grasp the dance. Like any classical dance such as ballet, It's very difficult in the beginning. I struggled through it, but it was satisfying. I found joy in every class. I think dance transitioned from a hobby to a profession when I started traveling to India, and my life started shifting. As I got older, I felt fatigued by my corporate job because I really loved dance but couldn’t give it 100% when I had to give my energy to work. Then in 2022, I was laid off from my startup job and began pondering whether I should get another one or do something different. 2023 was my arangetram, which is like a graduation. It's the dancer’s first debut performance on stage with a live orchestra. So, I decided to focus solely on my arangetram. Afterwards, I decided not to look for another job and to start a dance school. It was time. I figured if I don't do it now, I could procrastinate for another 5-10 years, and then I might be too old to do this.

ELSEHERE: How was that transition going from corporate into something completely different? Was it filled with more excitement or were there any specific hardships you continued to push through?

Srija Wang: It was definitely hard just coming out of COVID. There were a lot of uncertainties. With AI taking over jobs and layoffs happening, it was getting tough to find work. In the beginning, it was a struggle, because when you start a school or a business, it doesn’t just take off right away. I only had three students in the beginning, so there was almost no money coming in at all. Thankfully, my husband supported me through this, but it was difficult. It’s getting better, but it still takes several years to build a school, and I'm just two and a half years in. So the financial part is definitely a struggle.

ELSEHERE: How has the journey for you been so far from start to where you are now? Is there anything you look forward to with the school in the future?

Srija Wang: Building a school is a slow process. Before I started the school, I had high expectations. I’d watch other schools' performances and think, why would they present such half-baked students on stage? But my view completely changed after I started teaching. It’s not at all easy to pass on your knowledge to a student, especially with kids. Also, the culture is different. You can’t expect the same behavior from children in India versus the behavior from children here. They're brought up differently in a different environment. Everything is different. You have to tailor your expectations to the environment you're in. So, I lowered my expectations. These days, I’ve decided not to be too strict with my expectations. It’s okay for them to take their own time. I can have those expectations for myself, but it's not always possible with other students. My school is slowly taking off, but the Boston area is quite vibrant and diverse, so there's a lot of dance schools in this area. However, I think what attracts people to my school is that I don’t come from an Indian background. I'm a non-Indian who learned this dance form, which is not easy. For somebody who's not born into the culture, you have to learn everything from ground zero. So people who come to me respect me for that.

ELSEHERE: I would love to ask about your name as well. Srija, I’m curious about how you received that name, your connection to it, and how you claim that?

Srija Wang: Srija is actually a Hindu name that means “daughter of Goddess Lakshmi”. It's not my birth name. I have a different birth name in Chinese, but it's oftentimes mispronounced by Indians because they assume a certain way of pronouncing it by default. So one of my gurus said, “why don't you call yourself Srija? Because it's very close to your birth name and also has a very good, auspicious meaning”. So, that's when I adopted this name. 

ELSEHERE: I see, so that feels connected to your identity as well. I wanted to jump into your lineage, your rigor, and the question of responsibility. You describe your work as rooted in tradition while also exploring its relevance across cultures and time. I love the word rooted. What does it mean to you in practice to be rooted in a classical form rather than simply influenced by it?

Srija Wang: I think to learn, you first have to understand the culture. Without understanding it, you're missing 90% of the dance. For me, I think that's very important, because Bharatanatyam is also a storytelling dance and without understanding the culture, the emotion will never fully come out.

ELSEHERE: As a non-Indian practitioner of a classical Indian art form, what do you think about responsibility, your role as a practitioner of this dance form in terms of daily life, training, humility, performance, and the way you explain or speak about it?

Srija Wang: I think my goal is to carry on the traditions. There's a lot of people from the culture who take it for granted and people outside the culture who take it more seriously. I could say even for myself, I take my own culture for granted. So, for me to pass on this dance form, is to pass on the culture’s traditions to the next generation. The people who come to me, whether they're Indian-Americans or of other races, come because of an interest in the culture. I think it's my responsibility to make them understand how it works and integrates into the dance, because the dance cannot be separated from the culture 

ELSEHERE: And Bharatanatyam is not just a movement vocabulary; it carries pedagogy, structure, rhythm, lineage, and the history itself. Reflecting back on your Bollywood training, ballet, or any other technique you’ve tried, what has this form demanded of you that other dance languages may not?

Srija Wang: I think, first of all, the music speaks deeply to me on a level words can’t describe. Also what really attracts me and is why I continue holding onto this dance form is because Bharatanatyam has transformed my life. It took my life from somebody who was working in tech and came from a different cultural background, to a place I never imagined myself. In 20 years I’d always thought I’d go to college and then find a good job, but I never foresaw myself doing Bharatanatyam. I think it’s that spiritual connection. Even before I started Bharatanatyam, I was into the spirituality part of it even if  it's Hinduism, because when I was growing up, Buddhism was huge in China so I was surrounded by it which influenced my childhood. I actually practiced Tibetan Buddhism for 2 years at a Monastery before I started  Bharatanatyam. So I think that's a big part of why it stuck with me, and continues sticking with me, because through it I find deeper meanings in life. 

ELSEHERE: I would also love to hear more about your arangetram and Chennai in 2023. What was that experience like for you including the preparation and actual performance? 

Srija Wang: I spent one month in India at that time to prepare for my arangetram. That was a difficult experience because I ran into a lot of obstacles. No matter how you prepare for what you want, God has his own plans. So, the first week was tiring because of jet lag, but then, the second week, I got into a scooter accident that directly hit my foot. It was swollen and since we use our feet to dance, I went to the doctor. The doctor said I couldn’t dance for one week. So over the course of 3-4 weeks, I had a swollen foot, a throat infection, and then 3 days before my arangetram, I got severe food poisoning. I don't know how I got on stage, but I took some medicine and performed. It was something that if you don't have a strong willpower, you can’t accomplish. It was an experience that taught me to be resilient even in difficult situations. 

ELSEHERE: Wow. Then after your arangetram, you continued training under Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam. What changed in your body and what understanding did you gain after entering that deeper layer of study?

Srija Wang: Correct. So karanas is older than Bharatanatyam and has been reconstructed over the years, but is based on temple sculptures. Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam is the one who revived it. She did extensive research on the temples in Damar Nadu and their sculptures. She put them into movement and wrote a book called Natya Shastra that describes all of these movements. So if you see these temple sculptures, there's a lot of waste. Like, you can see one side of the waste is pushed out on the other side. However, Bharatanatyam has been sanitized of any waste movement, so it's very linear. I think karanas training has helped me understand how rhythm can work differently than Bharatanatyam. Since it is based on very precise footwork, everything has to be on the beat. Karanas is different, because it's very fluid movement, so it took me some time to get used to. I'm always interested in exploring different styles. I feel that as an artist grows, they also want to expand their vocabulary. So I wanted to explore a more ancient layer on top of the reformed version. 

ELSEHERE: And who would you say were your biggest inspirations during this time, or even as you're getting into this study?

Srija Wang: My biggest inspiration and go-to motivation is Roja Kannan. She’s very encouraging. No matter what mood she’s in, there's never any negativity coming from her. And she's quite an accomplished artist, as a guru in Chennai, so she's busy. Despite that, she takes the time to teach me. I highly respect her; she's my role model and motivation.

ELSEHERE: Are you still in contact or how does she continue to live through you even to this day?

Srija Wang: I'm still taking classes with her, but since she lives in Chennai, they are online. She's also my mentor. Any ideas I have for my dance productions I will run by her for guidance after I’ve tried to execute it first on my own. It's always good to have a mentor like that. I know so many people in my life who have had the same impact on my life as well.

ELSEHERE: What has long-term discipline with this form taught you that inspiration alone never could? With your experience of being so immersed in the form for so long, what has that been like for you rather than just being inspired by something that you saw?

Srija Wang: I think a lot of my upbringing has been an advantage and a disadvantage at the same time. growing up in China during the 90’s. It was a different time period and society, so I was taught to be resilient and disciplined. It taught me to be more flexible when dealing with certain situations, because the environment is not always in your favor, and people don't always praise you. Sometimes, people who are close to you criticize you. So it taught me to be strong, more so than inspiration. That's something I’ve carried from my childhood that I've both benefited and suffered from. Two sides of a coin.  

ELSEHERE: I want to dive into your background a little further. You mentioned how your background in combination with your study trips to India led you to cross-cultural production in Kalāsangama. So how did this work first originate and why did it become necessary for you to pursue?

Srija Wang: That's something very interesting, because I started going to India around 2019 and the first time I entered an Indian temple I saw something that I’ve seen in a Buddhist temple in China that looked similar. There’s this one mystical animal– It looks almost like a lion with a lion-like face– called Yachty. The first time I saw it, I thought it looked like a Chinese lion. That's the very first moment I started to connect the dots. As you see more of the temple, you'll also find motifs like peacocks and lotuses, which you also find in Chinese culture. Even the family and societal values are very similar and share the same roots. While I feel at home in China, over the past 30 years it has changed significantly, especially where I grew up in Beijing. We used to have many street vendors and the streets were always busy. Now, all of that has been sanitized and is gone. However, I still find that atmosphere in India, so I feel very connected to it. There are many common motifs and values that connect the two cultures.

I've been to conferences and lecture demonstrations in India talking about South Indian temples. I remember during one, the lecturer mentioned something about the Kalāsangama, the sculptures and stories of the temple. One of the participants asked whether they had any connection to Chinese culture. The lecturer couldn’t give a very clear answer, so I decided to respond since I had experienced both places firsthand. I grew up in China, have been to India many times, and learned this dance form there, so I could see all of the connections. I think it was at that moment, in 2023, that this idea began taking shape. I could not yet identify exactly what was calling me, but the dots were meeting, even though the full picture had not yet come together.

A year later in 2024, I started thinking about how Buddhism spread from India to China and influenced all of Asia. Hinduism spread throughout Southeast Asia, but it did not spread to East Asia in the same way Buddhism did. Buddhism had a huge influence on East Asian cultures and helped shape entire civilizations. At that point, I knew I wanted to create something exploring those connections, although the concept had not fully matured. Over the past two years, as it developed, I became interested in many Buddhist caves throughout China. I have visited a few of them, but there is one famous cave located in western China on the Silk Road that I wanted to explore for my production, Kalāsangama.

In 2024, I also discovered a Chinese dance style called Dunhuang Dance. It uses a lot of hand gestures that are also used in Bharatanatyam. I was fascinated because I’d never known about this dance form and took a couple of classes while visiting my family in China. I saw so many similarities, including the foot positions and hand gestures, so I decided to research how this dance form came about. I learned that it was reconstructed based on the cave paintings found in this particular cave in western China along the Silk Road. The Silk Road was an important trade route, and Buddhist monks traveled along it to northern India, in present-day Bihar, to study Buddhism at Nalanda University, which no longer exists because it was destroyed. On their journeys back to China, the monks would leave manuscripts at Mogao Caves, and over the years, they also created the cave paintings there. Dunhuang Dance was later reconstructed by studying those paintings, and many of the hand gestures depicted in them originated in India. That is where the dots all came together.

ELSEHERE: Wow, so interesting. So many overlapping symbols and traditions. I bet that was such a surreal experience for you.

Srija Wang: Yeah, it was interesting. I see these connections emerge from years before the idea of the Silk Road and Buddhism came about. In Chinese culture, there is a Chinese classical novel called Journey to the West. It is basically about a monkey who has 72 different powers and accompanies his teacher, a monk, to India to retrieve Buddhist scriptures. Along the way, they encounter many difficulties, such as demons trying to attack or eat the monk. In Indian culture, there is something called the Ramayana, which is a very famous Hindu epic. It also features this monkey character, Hanuman, who has many different powers and is very loyal to his master, Rama. So, I think there is definitely a connection. The Ramayana is older than Journey to the West, so I think it is definitely something that has been passed down from there. However, through my research, I could not find concrete evidence that they are connected, although I definitely think they are. However, since I don't have enough concrete research to support the idea, I couldn’t create a production around it.

ELSEHERE: I'm curious, in your work across the two traditions, how do you protect its rigor and keep it from being a fusion? How do you allow genuine inquiry and transformation to happen through it?

Srija Wang: I don't believe too much in fusion. Even if it's fusion, it has to be true to the history and can’t be something made up because we're not just trying to explore the movement, but the history of how common civilizations came about. So I try my best to do the history justice and use the traditional movements rather than producing something that’s modern and created in the 20th century.

ELSEHERE: And in your creation of Kalāsangama, did it change how you understand your own position in Bharatanatyam or make your responsibility to the form even greater?

Srija Wang: It definitely changed something, because I never thought Kalāsangama could come to light. It was just an idea in my head. I’ve never executed something like this on such a large scale. The more I work on this production, the more its scope expands. I had many challenges. In the beginning, I had no financial support and was fundraising to try and get the music composed and recorded, since there’s no music made for this. I applied for some grants and received the Creative Individual Grant from the Mass Cultural Council and another from the New England Foundation for the Arts. So along with that money and some donations I was able to get the music composed, the lyrics translated to Sanskrit, and the music recorded in Singapore and India. We still need to gather more funding for the rest of the production, but I'm surprised I even got this far.

ELSEHERE: It's all a part of the process. As you said, things like this are slow, but I see it all working out for you. I want to ask about your school. You're the founder of Nrityaarpana School of Bharatanatyam, where you emphasize strong fundamentals of discipline and traditional pedagogy. What do you feel should be protected in its transmission now, especially in a time where learning dance is accelerated or abbreviated?

Srija Wang: I think we need to protect the act of slowing down, because we live in such a fast-paced world. Now, kids are on social media, where you have 15-second reels, and people don't have the attention span to watch beyond 10 seconds. So, the challenge of teaching Gen Alpha is that they don't understand what it means to really look at something at a slow pace. They want something fast. I think that's a challenge with this generation, and for me, I want to pass on this idea that we have to slow down. Our basic steps have three speeds; the kids always want to do the fastest speed. I always say no. Your foundation lies in your first speed, which is your slowest speed. If you can master and perfect every single detail at the first speed, then your fastest speed will become mastered as well. 

ELSEHERE: Reflecting on how you are training people now and looking back on your own training, what are some things that you've carried with you? Or what are some things you've maybe decided not to carry with you when teaching the new generation?

Srija Wang: Something I carry with me is that I strongly emphasize the cultural aspect of this dance form. I want my students to understand that they cannot take it lightly. I emphasize that it is not just about coming to class once a week. You have to put in time to practice. If you don't put in the time to practice, first of all you will not advance, but second, you won’t really gain anything from it and it becomes parents paying money while the students gain nothing from it. This is not a casual dance form where you can just come to class, say, "Bye-bye, I'm done for the week. I'll see you next week." It doesn't work like that. So, I try to instill these ideologies because this dance form can actually really change a child's life. It teaches them what it means to be disciplined, what it means to do something that is uncomfortable for your body or your mind, and how to become mentally strong. It also teaches them from a very young age how to organize themselves and organize their time so they can practice and develop that discipline. I think that's very important for when they grow up because, if I didn't develop that discipline when I was a child, I could have never learned this dance form. I think that's something I emphasize in my class.

Something I decide not to emphasize too much is sitting deeply in the position. In ballet, they have this demi-plié position, but we sit much deeper than that in a shape we call aramandi. A lot of children have problems with it, or they sit in that position with a bent back. So, over the course of teaching my classes, I have loosened my rules a little bit. They don't have to hold perfect hands, perfect arms, or a perfect aramandi. I know some children learn at different paces. Each child is different, so we cannot look at it as something that applies to everybody. 

ELSEHERE: I think that's incredibly important, especially when talking about slowing down in a world where people want to learn things so quickly. I think not striving for perfection also falls within that and really taking the time to hone in on and master one thing. In this stage of your life and work, what feels most urgent for you to keep pursuing?

Srija Wang: What keeps me going is my passion and love for the art form. It’s a part of me that I don’t think I can live without at this point in my life. So that's what keeps me moving. Every morning, I wake up looking forward to my practice and to teaching choreography to my students. What gets me out of bed is knowing I have some purpose in life. Now I’m really having an impact on somebody's life, whereas before at my corporate job, I could be developing a product, but I felt like I was working for somebody else's dream. I wasn’t really making a direct impact on other people’s lives. Even when I was working in tech, I wanted to make a direct impact, help somebody, and change a life. Through teaching, you’re able to touch the lives of people— whether they’re small kids, teenagers, or even adults— you're touching their lives on a different level, and I find that very meaningful.

ELSEHERE: It seems like community is such a big part of that as well. How has community supported you in your work and life? How does it shape the way you look at life?

Srija Wang: Over the years, through my involvement in this art form, I’ve built a community around me. Also, doing Kalāsangama has brought me new friends through collaborations working with Chinese dancers. 

ELSEHERE: When people leave your work, what do you hope remains with them, not simply as information, but in a changed way of sensing, thinking, or relating?

Srija Wang: People look at culture as if they are all separate and lack understanding of other cultures. For example, in India, people don't understand East Asia. They think we're all either Japanese or something. They only see within their own culture. The same thing happens in China. They only see within their own culture. So, the cultures are not speaking to each other. But as somebody who grew up in China, has traveled, and stayed in India, I see it as one. We aren’t all separate; there are so many dots connecting us. Through my work, whether it's a production or whatever form it takes, I hope people can see these connections that people are normally blinded to. Sometimes, people don't see something outside of their own comfort zone or culture, when in reality, just 5,000 years ago, there were no borders. The borders came about later, and now everything is divided by them. However, I think we're all connected in one way or another. So, I hope through my work people can view things differently and see how these civilizations connect. It's not that we're separate. The truth is, we're all interconnected.

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About Srija Wang

Srija Wang

Srija Wang is a Bharatanatyam artist trained in the Kalakshetra style under Guru Smt. Vanishree Ravishankar (disciple of Savithri Jagannath Rao) and Guru Kalaimamani Smt. Roja Kannan. She has been dedicated to rigorous training since 2015. In 2023, she began advanced Karana training under Dr. Padma Subramanyam, completing it in 2025 and continuing with her Nrtya Sangraha choreography program. A passionate practitioner who came to Bharatanatyam later in life, Srija’s journey began with Bollywood and Bhangra dance before deepening into classical study. She has trained extensively in India and completed her arangetram in Chennai in 2023. Srija is the founder of Nrityaarpana School of Bharatanatyam, where she emphasizes strong fundamentals, discipline, and adherence to traditional pedagogy, ensuring students develop a solid foundation in adavus and talam before progressing to performance.

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Artist Statement

My work in Bharatanatyam is rooted in tradition while exploring its relevance across cultures and time. Trained in the Kalakshetra style, I approach the form with deep respect for its structure, discipline, and lineage. At the same time, my journey—coming to it later in life and from a non-Indian background—has shaped a perspective grounded in curiosity and intentional practice.

I am particularly interested in movement as a bridge between cultures. My current work explores intersections between Indian classical dance and Chinese traditions, especially through the study of Karanas under Dr. Padma Subramanyam. This has deepened my understanding of movement vocabulary and the historical connections between Indian and Chinese performance traditions.

Through choreography, I create work that is both rooted and expansive—honoring Bharatanatyam's rigor while situating it within broader cultural narratives. Projects like Kalasangama trace artistic exchange along the Silk Road, drawing connections through shared philosophical foundations. As a teacher, I emphasize strong fundamentals, clarity, and rhythmic understanding. I believe discipline and patience are essential to artistic growth, and I strive to create an environment where students develop both technical strength and meaningful connection to the art.

Ultimately, my work is driven by a desire to engage deeply with the form, its history, and its potential to communicate across cultures.

About Inside Out

Inside Out is ELSEHERE’s long-form conversation series, published through STRATUM. It begins from the belief that before artists are understood through category, institution, or medium, they must also be encountered through the deeper structures that shape a practice over time: memory, method, contradiction, relation, and the conditions of life pressing from within the work. This conversation with Srija Wang has been transcribed and edited from a live recording for publication.

Edited by Lilliana Miller, Yuyang Hu