and twentieth centuries may be a way of saving it from the banality of becoming a titillating divertissement for the pleasure of kings. (This revalorisation of the art has a feminist aspect as well, as bharatanatyam is almost always performed by women.) Sarukkai is an eminence in the world of Indian classical dance and, based on her program essay and the carefully-constructed pre-recorded introductions to each of her dances, she is an intelligent explicator of the art as well. But once she begins to dance, words become irrelevant: the clarity and detail of her dancing leaves no room for ambiguity or doubt. Like a master story-teller she is able to change registers and points of view in the course of a single solo, offering a variety of perspectives, from microscopic to sweepingly vast. She may not have the nimbleness or sheer pliancy of some younger dancers (judging from previous press accounts, she's in her late forties or early fifties), but the sophistication of her dancing -- and the complex structure of her choreographies -- is awe-inspiring. The ninety-minute evening was divided into four extraordinarily long solos, with almost no pause in between. Stithi Gati was a pure dance meditation on stillness and movement. Raas , a story dance inspired by Indian miniature paintings. The Bird Song , a visualization of a Tamil poem in which flight becomes a metaphor for spiritual pilgrimage. Laya (which translates as "merging") is another visualization, this time inspired by the temple architecture, with its sumptuous