This February, Junoon took Bharata Natyam back to where it belongs, the temple. In a simple yet powerful morning gathering in Dhasa, our students offered their dance as prayer, honouring the sacred roots of this art form and beginning a meaningful new tradition for our academy.
At the core of our curriculum is a Southern Indian Classical art form named Bharata Natyam that was nurtured in the temples of India. It is deemed a form of worship.
This year, at the very start of February 2026, we decided to bring back this tradition by conducting our Bharata Natyam sessions in the temples of Dhasa.
Practitioners from The Junoon Academy made an offering of their Art to deities and devotees to bring back a meaningful, ancient practice in spreading and honouring this art form.
This year’s festival took place on Tuesday, February 10th, 2026 morning.
Junoon conducted its first-ever Temple Dance Festival at a Shiva Temple in the village of Gopalgram (Dhasa). We are deeply grateful to our Sanskrit and Visual Arts mentor, Ms. Bhoomi, for guiding our students through the temple rituals before they began to offer their dance.
Bharata Natyam, central to Junoon’s pedagogy, is a temple art form where art is first a prayer, and only then a performance. Through experiences such as these, our girls are initiated into tradition and come to understand the sacredness of their daily practice.
At Junoon, we believe that everyday practice is a sacred ritual, no different from a daily prayer. This belief system is one we consciously uphold and pass on, through discipline, devotion, and embodied learning.
May the blessings of the Lord and this sacred art form continue to bring energy, love, and strength to our dancing stars here in Dhasa.
This is Junoon
Nikita Rathod
Curriculum Development
The Junoon Foundation
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