Grīṣma | L’ardore

Sunday 22 and Monday 23 March 2026 at 8.30 pm, the DAMSLab/Teatro in Bologna will host the performance of Grīṣma | L’ardore, an Indian Bharatanātyam dance-theatre piece featuring Apoorva Jayaraman.

Grīṣma | L’ardore is a journey through the emotional landscape of summer: languor, hardship, the instinct for self-preservation, the wisdom of conservation, promises and abundance, wild courage and an unquenchable thirst, both physical and metaphorical. In Sanskrit, the term grīṣma means ‘heat’. Summer is ‘heat, burning, boiling’. A possible etymological root is ghṛ, to burn. Or, gras, to devour, to consume. The semantic field is precisely that of fire, of ardour.

Bharatanātyam is one of the most significant classical Indian dance-theatre genres, a refined and complex yet powerful and expressive stage language that has enjoyed widespread global success for years.

Apoorva Jayaraman is among the most talented practitioners of this art form of her generation, a dancer capable of embodying both tradition and innovation in a constant dialogue with the contemporary world: Apoorva is, in fact, deeply committed to artistic exploration as a professional and transdisciplinary practice, convinced that Bharatanatyam is, first and foremost, a contemporary art form. We also find this perspective of hers in the production Grīṣma | L’ardore, which she is presenting in Bologna. Apoorva owes her unique position to her training on stage, having studied under Priyadarsini Govind (former director of the prestigious Kalakshetra Academy), and to the profound curiosity and scientific expertise that led her to obtain a PhD in astronomy from the University of Cambridge and a Master’s degree in physics from the University of Oxford.

Organised by Matteo Casari and Giuditta de Concini

In collaboration with JAYA Association

Dance Apoorva Jayaraman

Narrator Giuditta de Concini

Graphic design Jean Claude Capello

Photography Amar Ramesh

Sanskrit text consultancy Alberto Anrò