The Silambam Houston Journey

A Yearning for Dance

Silambam Houston began as a yearning. As a new graduate student at UTMB Galveston, Lavanya Rajagopalan deeply felt the absence of Bharatanatyam, the art she had grown up with, back in her hometown of Chennai, India. She performed in events at UTMB, and even travelled around the US to perform at various venues around the country - but still missed the vibrant experience and fulfillment of teaching young children, something she had loved doing for several years in Chennai. When a few Indian families on the island requested her to teach their children, she jumped at the chance to recreate that fulfillment here.

Humble Beginnings

Lavanya began Silambam Houston in 2002, teaching the Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam along with Carnatic vocal music to four students, with classes held in an apartment clubhouse. The name, ‘Silambam’ derives from the Silambakoodam, the space in which dance was taught in olden times, and is the name given to the network of sister schools across the world run by disciples of the legendary danseuse, Padmashree awardee Prof. Sudharani Raghupathy.

At Silambam Houston, Lavanya refused to charge tuition, insisting that regularity to class and passion to learn were all the payment she wanted. Seven students performed in Silambam’s first student showcase, on the first anniversary of the fledgling institution. Throughout her graduate studies, Lavanya continued teaching two classes a week, soon moving from the apartment clubhouse to the activity room at the Rosenberg Library in Galveston.

Growth and Expansion

After receiving her Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Lavanya moved to Houston in 2005 to pursue post-doctoral training at the Baylor College of Medicine, but continued to drive to Galveston to teach classes. In addition, she also began teaching classes at the Meenakshi temple in Pearland, and Krithika Mohankumar joined the faculty in 2006. The next few years saw many changes in Lavanya’s career and personal life: she returned to UTMB as a faculty member, received NIH funding for her research, got married, and started a family, necessitating a consolidation of the Galveston and Pearland classes into just one location in Pearland. In 2007, Silambam was formally incorporated as a corporation in Texas, and received tax-exempt certification from the IRS.

With a passionate and dedicated Board of Directors now at the helm, Silambam continued to grow and expand. The organization began inviting and presenting visiting artists, to provide rich artistic experiences for Silambam students and Houston audiences. In 2011, Silambam presented the Ranga Pravesham (solo debut performance) of student Siddhi Patel (who incidentally, years later as an architect, gave back in no small measure to her alma mater by designing Silambam’s new facility at no cost to the organization).

New programs added

More program expansion followed: Silambam’s unique summer intensive, RASA, began in 2013; this was also the year in which Lavanya gave up her research career to focus primarily on dance, with a side of science writing. Anusha Venkatramani (another disciple of Prof. Sudharani Raghupathy, whom Lavanya had taught as a student instructor back in Chennai) and Raji Natarajan joined the faculty in 2014, and the Silambam Houston Dance Company came into existence later that year, presenting their first original production in 2015. The organization formalized Carnatic music as a standalone program in 2014, added the Kathak program in 2016, Kuchipudi in 2018, Odissi (in collaboration with Kalaangan) in 2019, Yoga and Mridangam in 2021, Hindustani music in 2022, and Tabla in 2023. The year 2018 proved to be a milestone year in Silambam’s journey, with the inaugural YUVA Festival, our Dance Company’s first appearance on the iconic stage of Miller Outdoor Theater, the addition of Silambam to the roster of Young Audiences of Houston, the inauguration of our new Heights location, and the serious pursuit of a capital campaign towards a Silambam facility, which was completed and inaugurated in 2021.

Where we are now

Today, Silambam is the premier Indian arts organization in the Greater Houston area, designated as a ‘Houston Cultural Treasure’, by the BIPOC Arts Network and Fund in 2023. We have been funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and Houston Arts Alliance, and have been part of the Houston Arts Alliance’s Capacity Building Initiative, the Mid-America Arts Alliance’s ENGAGE program, the New Pathways Program of EMCArts, and a member and regular grantee of Dance Source Houston. The Silambam Houston Dance Company regularly performs on major Houston stages, including Miller Outdoor Theater. We have developed robust outreach programs, with performances and workshops in K-12 settings through Young Audiences of Houston, interactive performances at the Children’s Museum of Houston, Houston-area libraries, and a host of other community venues, and a range of digital outreach resources. We host a suite of concerts, including YUVA, an emerging artists showcase, and ArtStream, a community concert series designed to build connections between artists and audiences. The organization has a diverse and highly skilled Board, a slew of talented faculty and staff members, and arts programs in several Indian classical arts disciplines, and about 150 students. The 4000-sq.ft. multipurpose Silambam Houston Cultural Arts Center, inaugurated in 2021, is a hub for cultural and artistic activity in greater Houston. Quite a journey, from one teacher with a burning passion, and four students, in an apartment clubhouse!