Bharatanatyam took center stage at the Las Vegas Freestyle Dance Competition when Indian dancer Harini Nilakantan performed the fusion dance.
Practicing the ancient form of Indian dance for over 23 years, Harini has effortlessly incorporated elements of Bharatanatyam into black dance styles for competitions.
In several comments on her viral dance video, Harini stated that Indian Fusion was her style moniker when she competed at the Red Bull Your Style West Qualifier with “ELEMENTS of Bharatanatyam”.
In a separate comment, she reiterated that she competed with Indian Fusion as her style and “did exactly that for a dance battle with popular music”.
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A video of her performance went viral on social media, with the original post garnering over 1.4 million views.
Netizens marveled at her mesmerizing freestyle fusion performance, saying it was “absolutely surreal” and “a joy to watch.” The comments section was also flooded with fire and heart emojis.
“She absolutely destroyed 🔥👏,” said the user. “The queen is dancing!!!!!!!!!” another user said.
“Can we just take a moment to see how talented she really is? The footwork alone is insane. Combining one of India’s oldest dance styles with hip hop and even a bit of twerking is no easy feat and she made it look effortless,” the user added.
User said: “Whoaaa..disgusting! I’ve never seen a combination like this! Creativity🔥”
“Wow…amazing skills, only a classical dancer can mix both so beautifully,” said another user while urging other Indians to show her some love.
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Harini shuts down the trolls
Despite a perfect fusion performance, fit for a dance battle, Harini was dismissed by some users saying “it’s not Bharatanatyam”.
One user even said, “I don’t like it… Kathak or any traditional Indian dance is sacred, not for the pleasure of the Red Bull crowd.” “Overall a good dance but please don’t belittle Bharatnatyam by calling your dance Bharatnatyam or even taking inspiration from it!” another user said.
But he shut down Hari’s trolls and said, “Of course not! As someone who has practiced the form for 23 years, I would know.”
“I never claimed this bike was a Bharatanatyam bike; the headlines of these posts don’t say the same. YOU think we did!” she continued. “You see the last 10 seconds of the entire round and base all your hate on YOUR problems with twerking and other black dance styles being hypersexualized.”
Irritated by the needless hate in the comments section, Harini suggested haters sign up for a qualifier – “Go put yourself out there and dance all you want. Be my guest. I’d be happiest if more people showed off their skills.”
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Who is Harini Nilakantan?
According to her website, Harini Nilakantan is a professional dancer, movement artist and choreographer from Chicago based in Chennai. She has over 20 years of training and experience in various dance forms, especially Bharatanatyam, Waacking, Hiphop, and is currently studying Chicago Footwork.
Harini is the Program Director of Dance at the Kalapriya Center for the Indian Performing Arts.
She is a two-time World Of Dance Chicago headliner and is the current RedBull Dance Your Style Chicago City Qualifier 2025 champion.
