Jewish girls undergo a bat mitzvah; 15 year-old Latinas celebrate with quinceaÑeras. But for generations of Indian American girls, the rite of passage is performing a classical Indian dance before a crowd of hundreds. After years of preparation, Hema Ramaswamy of Middletown, N.J., is ready to unveil her arangetram.
An arangetram, which literally means "ascending the stage," is a major accomplishment that takes years of preparation. This moment, when a student of dance or music asserts her artistic independence, usually happens in the teen years. Ramaswamy is 23.
Ramaswamy, who has Down syndrome, originally began dancing for health reasons. "But then it became part of her, and she really loves and enjoys it, and it took her 13 years with a lot of challenges, midway, to complete this," explained her father, Ram. "And now today is a perfect day for her — her graduating in this art."
[For more of this story, written by Arun Venugopal, go to http://www.npr.org/blogs/codes...itional-indian-dance]
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