(no audio) (singer 1 singing in foreign language) I think I started at the age of five and a half or six.

My mom introduced me to dance lessons.

I vaguely remember that, but I know that I was very excited to go to dance classes.

It was a very huge passion of mine to learn dancing.

My hometown is Chennai.

It's a beautiful city.

Chennai is the den of Bharatanatyam.

It's one of the seven classical dance forms of India.

(singer 1 singing in foreign language) They say that it's as old as 2000 BC and they attribute to Lord Shiva who was the first dancer.

It was passed on from a teacher guru to a student verbally.

Even to this day, it's a living tradition, and it started as worship in the temples, and then slowly went to the proscenium on the stage, and it's one of the most popular dance forms in the world.

Bhavam means expression.

Ragam means melody.

Thalam means rhythm.

And natyam means theater or drama.

So Bharatanatyam, it incorporates everything that you can bring underneath that umbrella.

In that way, I think it is one of the best dance forms, and no wonder it's so popular.

(singer 2 singing in foreign language) She's the consummate artist.

She's an amazing performer.

I think though, to be honest, her talent lies in bringing that out in other dancers.

I moved into this country in 1993 and came to Cleveland in 1995.

This should be up, posture should be up and should be extending your body.

Originally, I didn't want to start teaching, but then I understood that there was not a lot of performing opportunities here.

And then the community around me kept asking me to start lessons for their little kids.

And I get a lot of happiness when I introduce a dance step to somebody.

(Sujatha singing in foreign language) We usually like to start when they're six years old and pretty much for the next 12 years they're with me if they want to pursue dance.

By the time they are 15 or 16, they become really good.

So learning from my mother, and my guru as well, since a young age has not only wholly influenced me as a dancer, but also me as a scientist, as an individual, as an innovator.

Learning from your mother, especially somebody that's very established and well known, comes with these extra expectations that other students don't necessarily have.

As time evolved, of course, she started to give me more space and room to grow, and our relationship has grown stronger and stronger, of course, both artistically and on the mother-daughter axis.

(tranquil music) The way I dress, the way I wear all this, it's not just for dance, it's a way of life that I carry on even in my everyday pursuit of life that comes and integrates itself into the art form.

So when I create that person as a dancer, I'm also creating somebody who has got a little bit of India in them.

And this is the traditional art form.

Can she draw her eyes a little bit more?

Classical art forms are very difficult to pass on.

So I believe it's a responsibility of every teacher and artist to make sure that the next generation continues in the manner that we wanted it to be.

(singer 3 singing in foreign language) The sum of the art form.

There is no compromise on that.

And over years, as you mature as a dancer, as a teacher, and as a choreographer, there comes a deeper appreciation of the fundamentals to appreciate the core values of this classical dance form even more.

She gives them one of the purest form of the dance, and at the same time, she has repeatedly proved you don't have to lighten the classicism to appeal to the people.

It not only connects the Indian diaspora and their children to their roots, but it also gives for the wider population a greater understanding and appreciation of an art farm, which may be totally different for them.

I have unbounded admiration for her.

She's a remarkable artist, remarkable human being.

And then she sees the ring.

That's something familiar.

So she takes it and then she's so happy that she's got it, she clenches that, she's so happy.

(upbeat music) Dance is about communication.

For me personally, there's a joy that I feel when I'm performing and I want that joy to be shared.

If I'm performing at a school to children, then I try to tell stories and make them very simple and enjoyable so that it ignites their interest to see the dance or to be more inquisitive about the dance.

When I'm performing at our own Indian dance festivals there, I am presenting work that is traditional that will portray the bandwidth, and the greatness of the art form.

When I am performing at Cleveland Public Theatre or the Cleveland Museum of Art where I'm commissioned to do work, I have been presenting work that makes people think, that makes people not only take home something from the dance, but also connect to a very socially relevant subject that is happening then.

I've been fortunate to be in a place where artists are not only given recognition but appreciated, and it has been a very welcoming audience and everybody's welcome, and everybody can share, give and take.

That is beautiful.

And to be part of an art ecosystem that is very vibrant, and that is always growing, and then for me to have shared my art, and know that it is welcomed, it's a very big joy for me.

And the Ohio Heritage Fellowship Award helped me to be introduced to new people who do not know about Bharatanatyam or do not know about me, and that paved a way to introduce my art.

(singer 4 singing in foreign language) I couldn't be more proud that my guru Sujatha Srinivasan has been named as the Ohio Heritage Fellow.

It speaks not only to her personal excellence as a performer, but I think more to the fact that she's had such a broad impact on the community around her to show how art can transcend language, religion, cultures.

And in that way, I think she's really helped the classical art of Bharatanatyam spread through the community.

And I think building that kind of impact really takes a lot of work and foresight.

(singer 4 singing in foreign language) (no audio)