Manasi Arya: The Artist

Manasi Arya

Manasi Kathak

Manasi Raas

Name: Manasi Arya

Year: Junior

Major: Psychology and Neuroscience

Hometown: Highland, IN

Dance History: Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Raas

Manasi Arya sums up her identity with just one word, “artist.” Her deep love for a variety of art forms keeps her rooted in a strong bicultural identity. She notes that her ability to perform traditional and cultural dances carries much more significance in America than in India. This is because as Americans, “we want to bring the culture here and show people, so it’s more important for people here to be dancing than it is in India.” Dance itself has taught her more about herself and has made her “a lot more Indian than I thought it was going to be in high school.” As a child, she learned bharatanatyam for a few short years, after which she switched to another classical Indian dance, kathak. Now at Indiana University, she is a part of IU HoosierRaas, a competitive garba raas team. She attributes her ability to learn a completely new dance form in college to her training in classical Indian dance. She also echoed the sentiments of many individuals when it came to the uniqueness of dance in that “it doesn’t matter what culture you are or who you are, you can always dance.” In college, raas has been both a physical and mental outlet. It has helped Manasi have “a better attitude towards life” and has relieved a lot of the stress that accompanies a pre-medical school student’s course load. She fears that without the cultural exposure that raas offers, she would not be the happy person that she feels like she is. Another form of cultural exposure Manasi enjoys is being on HooSher Bhangra’s Executive Board. Her role oversees personal relations and graphic design for the team, and she says this is another way she contributes to continuing Indian culture. She gets to experience a leadership role through Executive Board, but also gets to learn from a circuit in which she does not compete, which is yet another facet of Indian culture she has access to. Furthermore, she is also a part of the Raas Royalty Executive Board for the upcoming school year. Thus far, dancing in general has really helped form her identity as an artist. But maybe more importantly, it has shown her what she wants to be and has given her a clear track to achieving that.