After six months as a Metcalf Performing Arts Intern at Sampradaya Dance Creations, I find myself reflecting not only on the skills I have acquired, but on how my understanding of artistic leadership has evolved through my mentorship with Suma Suresh and Lata Pada.

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Through Lata Aunty’s accounts, I have come to understand the extraordinary unpaid labour, conviction, advocacy, and persistence that went into establishing a professional organization rooted in Bharatanatyam in Canada at a time when there was far less understanding of Indian classical dance within the professional arts sector. My generation has inherited much from that labour - the stages we perform on, the funding opportunities we access, and even the language through which we advocate for our practices.

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With Suma Akka, I am learning what it takes to sustain and move that legacy forward in the present: the months of planning, budgets, contracts, grants, schedules, production meetings, artist relationships, and countless decisions behind what an audience may ultimately experience as a single evening of performance. I am also learning that facilitation itself is a practice, and that leadership is not about having complete control, but about communicating clearly, listening carefully, making decisions when necessary, and creating the conditions in which others can do their best work.

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Observing these two interconnected generations of leadership has begun to redefine what success might mean for me as an artist and emerging artistic leader of Shvas Dance Company. I want to create meaningful work and grow as a performer and choreographer, but I also want to help build conditions in which other artists can thrive. I hope to advocate for Bharatanatyam, Garba, and other South Asian dance forms while allowing them to remain dynamic - honouring what I have inherited while staying curious about what these practices can become.

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Most importantly, I now understand that whatever structures my generation creates will eventually become someone else’s inheritance. I entered this internship wanting to understand how a professional dance organization works; six months later, I am beginning to understand something much larger: how an artistic ecosystem is built and sustained, and how deeply that work depends on communities,

relationships, institutions, advocates, administrators, teachers, audiences, and future

generations willing to carry it forward.

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Purawai Vyas

Metcalf Intern