“My journey with Bharatanatyam began at a very young age."
Harini Nilakantan is challenging perceptions of what Bharatanatyam can look like, taking the Indian classical dance form into freestyle battles and contemporary music.
The Chicago-based dancer, who has roots in Chennai and was raised in the United States, has trained in Bharatanatyam for nearly two decades while developing a movement vocabulary that spans freestyle styles.
Her Red Bull Dance Your Style performances have brought that fusion to a global audience, generating more than 30 million views across social media.
From interpreting house music and contemporary tracks to competing in a traditional sari, Harini has created a striking space where South Asian tradition meets street dance culture.
With the Red Bull Dance Your Style USA National Final in Tampa fast approaching, she is preparing to take that approach onto another major competitive stage.
In an interview with DESIblitz, Harini discusses her journey with Bharatanatyam, finding her identity through dance and why she believes Desi styles belong in spaces where audiences may least expect them.
Finding Identity through Bharatanatyam
Harini Nilakantan’s relationship with Bharatanatyam began when she was just four years old in Bangalore.
She says: “My journey with Bharatanatyam began at a very young age.
“I was four when I started training in the form in Bangalore, and I’d always admired how beautiful it looked.
“My relationship with Bharatanatyam went through its ups and downs, particularly when it came to my identity and if I was still connected to my roots after I’d moved to the States, but I’d say my love, respect, and hunger to delve deeper has only grown as I’ve grown as a dancer.”
That evolving relationship also shaped how Harini understood her identity as a performer.
She recalls: “My earliest memory was choreographing a routine for a competition in the 5th grade, where I wanted to perform a mix of both Bharatanatyam and folk dance to Remo Fernandes’ ‘Flute Song’ – it made perfect sense in my head to connect both.
“The track’s beats felt airy and consistent, just like a set of Bharatanatyam adavus (fundamentals).
“That process just opened the door for so many more opportunities to have conversations with different styles; I see my identity being refracted through many lenses, so I feel like a kaleidoscope of all my experiences. Dance just amplifies that.”
Bharatanatyam also offers a particular combination of emotional expression and rhythmic complexity, as she explains:
“All the micro-expressions that a human being has, and showcasing the intersection of math and music/dance.
“While our dance style is seen as theatrical, Bharatanatyam has got so many methods of highlighting the subtleties of our feelings.
“And on the flip side, we can showcase the beauty of rhythm sense – finding unique polyrhythms in our dance style through clever kannakus is something unique to Indian dance styles as a whole, and I don’t quite find the same exhilaration of a smart panchanadai [a rhythmic challenge of showcasing five different gaits within the same time signature] in other dance styles.”
Taking Bharatanatyam into Freestyle
That combination of musicality, physical discipline and expressive detail became central to Harini’s decision to take Bharatanatyam into freestyle battle settings.
Her Red Bull Dance Your Style performances have placed the form in an environment where audiences may not traditionally expect to encounter it.
Harini admits: “Simply put, I’d never seen it happen, and I always wondered why.
“Bharatanatyam is such a versatile dance form, and it requires rigour, discipline [of both mind and body], athleticism, and grace to perform it well.
“It’s exactly what you’re looking for in a battle – a dancer whose style is focused on complex musicality, charisma, how attuned they are with the music, the ability to construct a storyline from thin air, dedication, and showmanship.
“Why shouldn’t Bharatanatyam belong in a scene like Red Bull?
“Dance itself is sacred and all-encompassing, so why does my use of the skills I have to dance my style seem un-traditional?
“I wanted to compete with the skills I had and honed; it would be disingenuous otherwise and I wanted to showcase how neatly Bharatanatyam could blend with, say, house, or waacking, or punking/voguing.
“I wanted to emulate a bridge between our worlds.”
Her approach to adapting the form is rooted in respecting both Bharatanatyam and the music she encounters.
Harini says: “Movement is movement, and every time I move I’m responding to what the track is telling me to do. That’s the most honest approach to dance.
“If I restrict myself and tell myself that x movement only belongs to y space, I’m limiting myself and doing a disservice to the dance style itself.
“Art just creates itself – my training directly informs my art and expression.”
That process involves both instinct and technical analysis.
Breaking down the rhythm and musical structure, Harini explains:
“If we were to get technical with it, I’m actively listening to how the track is building itself, and in real time figuring out the rhythm, and then the structure.
“Once I unpack the layers, I can repackage it with my movement – maybe the rhythm is a consistent 4/4 beat at 130 bpm.
“I know that a consistent thattimettu [metronome footwork] would work best while my upper body has the freedom to pick out something in the melody to highlight.
“I just described what we would do in a Varnam, so that same treatment gets applied to any piece of music I move to.”
Going Viral without Losing Her Roots
Harini Nilakantan’s performances have also demonstrated how far this approach can travel beyond established Bharatanatyam and dance audiences.
Her work has generated more than 30 million views across social media, turning performances rooted in Indian dance traditions into content consumed by a much wider audience.
She confesses: “That is an eye-popping number, I won’t lie.
“I knew my rounds were solid during that battle; I just didn’t expect that specific round to go crazy.
“It feels surreal, but validating in the sense that our Desi styles have legs too, and are just as formidable in this space. But the internet is a scary, weird, lovely place, so I just put my hands up and went along for the ride.”
The attention has also brought greater scrutiny, making it important for Harini to distinguish between what audiences may label her style and how she describes it herself.
“What’s interesting is that I never described my style as Bharatanatyam; I performed with Indian Fusion as my style of choice, so there was a healthy mix of Indian styles in there, not just classical.
“My Guru gave me her blessing and sound advice, my family has my back, and my peers – the ones who have seen me through everything – know who I am and what my goals are.
“That’s what matters the most to me and my journey. I have dreams that extend far beyond numbers on the internet, and an incredible support system to keep me from losing my roots.”
Her wider career has given her opportunities to apply that versatility across performance and choreography.
She says: “I’ve choreographed for Tesher and danced for Diljit [Dosanjh]; I would love the opportunity to choreograph for him one day!
“Each of these credits greatly shaped how I approach dance as a whole.
“The World of Dance experiences taught me the art of spectacle, and how best to showcase my skills with flair, while Tesher and Diljit taught me how to choreograph for groups, both for camera and for stage. They’re very different scenarios.
“The space affects the movement just as much as the movement affects the space.”
Opening Doors for South Asian Dancers
Harini Nilakantan’s next challenge is the Red Bull Dance Your Style USA National Final in Tampa on September 19, where she is looking to build on what she showed in Las Vegas.
The competition gives her another opportunity to test her skills alongside dancers from different backgrounds while continuing to challenge assumptions about what Desi dance can do.
Harini says: “I’m hoping to put my best foot forward. I want to be able to show a lot more than I did in Vegas skill-wise, and exchange with these incredible movers.
“I want to show that Desi dance styles are just as, if not more, versatile than people give them credit for.”
“Reaching this stage was on my bucket list the moment I applied to be in the Chicago city qualifier a year ago.
“Reaching this stage means another door opened for South Asian dancers with ‘different’ skill sets to see my journey and apply.”
That wider representation matters because her own journey demonstrates that South Asian dancers do not have to choose between preserving their training and entering spaces that may appear unfamiliar to their traditions.
She adds: “I say this every time I get the chance: Dance is one of the greatest unifiers in the universe, only second to music.
“If my expression and what I do inspires even one person to try something new, I’ve succeeded in making the world feel just a tiny bit less divided.”
Harini Nilakantan’s journey reflects a wider shift in how South Asian dance can be understood, performed and experienced.
Her work uses the discipline, musicality and expression of Bharatanatyam as a foundation for experimentation.
With major performances, choreography credits and an expanding audience behind her, she continues to demonstrate how Indian dance can hold its own within freestyle culture without losing its connection to tradition.
Her upcoming appearance at the Red Bull Dance Your Style USA National Final represents another opportunity to put that philosophy into practice while creating greater visibility for dancers with similarly diverse skill sets.
For Harini, the value of that visibility extends beyond views, competition results or career milestones, with dance providing a way to connect different worlds through movement.
