Who brought Indian dance to Austria and Vienna long before the word bollywood was known? Before World War II there was a show of Uday Shankar and his group at the Wiener Konzerthaus but before and after that hardly anything is known. With the foundation of the Austro-Indian Association on 17th June 1963 things changed and a few dance performances with great artists have been organised. With the regular Bharatanatyam classes held by Radha Anjali at the Sportsinstitute of the University of Vienna since 1981 and the foundation of Natya Mandir on 3rd December 1983 even more things changed. But let us look back to the year 1976 when the beautiful and captivating Indian dancer Kama Dev came to Vienna and performed here with his beautiful partner Urvashi and everybody was spellbound. It was for the first time that a classical Bharatanatyam dance repertoire and dances from the styles Kuchipudi and Seraikella Chhau were performed on stage with proper explanations before each item. Moreove...
Bharatanāṭyam, Indischer Tanz in Wien,