Dancing with Shiva—Shantala Shivalingappa

Earlier this year, I had the chance to spend some time with the Kuchipudi dancer and choreographer Shantala Shivalingappa, first in Lausanne—where she and her mother were teaching a workshop— and then on Skype. In a series of long conversations, we talked about her upbringing in Paris, her studies of Indian dance, her “master” Vempati Chinna Satyam, her work with Peter Brooke and Pina Bausch, and the importance of both the erotic and the holy in Kuchipudi. My profile of Shivalingappa is in the current issue of The Nation.