when Suhana teaches a Semi-Classical workshop, something happens that nobody expects.

she'll be in the middle of breaking down a combination, maybe explaining how to hit a particular adavu or showing the hand movements for a specific phrase, and she'll just stop. pause. tilt her head. and whistle.

not like a normal whistle. like a bird. a full melodic trill that somehow matches whatever song y'all have been dancing to.

"and actually they whistle back sometimes," she says, laughing. "that's when you know you're good. or I am saying something bad and they're getting mad at me."

this February, Suhana is bringing something special to six cities.

she’s been teaching workshops in New York for nearly three years now, and what makes her workshops stand out isn’t just the choreography — it’s the way the room comes alive. while she sets the structure and guides the movement, the learning doesn’t stop at the front.

"just because I'm up there teaching choreography does not mean that I'm the only person in the room that you're learning from, I learned so much just by looking around about the different textures I can incorporate, facial expressions, and different moments that we can highlight."

each workshop brings together countless dancers, each with their own way of moving and interpreting the same material. that collective energy is what makes the experience so powerful — and it’s exactly what Suhana is excited to share with communities across every city on this tour.

Suhana grew up singing. like really singing — she trained in both opera and carnatic music. she used to perform at weddings in college, still does open mics here and there for fun. in between all that, she swims. she knits, though she's very specific about what she knits: "only scarves that are children sized or cat or dog sized."

but dance is different. dance is the thing she does so that other people can dance.

"everybody should learn how to dance," she says. "it gives you such a sense of confidence, it improves your posture, it's so good for your mind, it's so good for the soul."

she loves watching people transform. someone walks in shy, timid – maybe never taken a workshop before. and then, over the course of an hour and a half, something shifts. they start to embody the character and feel the choreography instead of just going through the steps.

and here's what keeps her going: people come back to her months later and say "hey, I started taking Bharathanatyam lessons" or "I enrolled in a school that teaches Bharathanatyam because I really liked some of the elements that you brought into that choreography."

that's the power about Semi-Classical forms — whether it's Bharathanatyam, Kathak, Kuchipudi, Odissi. "it's such a beautiful form of expression," she says. and if you have the opportunity to learn it, to really dig into the etymology and the origin of some of those combinations, you should take it.

watch the full interview with Suhana → on instagram or keep reading below

Suhana’s greatest challenge: there's this thing that happens to a lot of us including me — imposter syndrome. wondering if we should be in the rooms we're in, if we deserve to be doing the things we've been given the opportunity to do.

Suhana's advice on that is pretty simple: "don't question it. just do it."

do it sad, do it happy, do it inspired, do it joyfully. just do it.

we asked her some rapid fire questions:

teleport anywhere or read minds? "oh, teleport anywhere."

sweet and salty or just spicy? "sweet and salty."

would you rather relive one past moment or fast forward to the future? "relive a past moment."

would you either meet your future self or never see them? "never see them."

plan everything or live spontaneously? "plan everything!"

A note from Suhana: "I'm super excited to meet so many of you, I'm already blown away by the enthusiasm and the excitement and the messages that I've gotten. I can't wait to dance with y'all so soon."

This is how traditions survive in the diaspora — not locked away in museums or limited to stages, but taught in studios across NYC, Dallas, Austin, Philly, and San Francisco. Passed from one person to all of you, carried forward, and eventually shared again.

→ see where Suhana's going: arrambam.com/dance/suhana

Suhana's Semi-Classical Dance Workshop Tour:

Tamil Meetups - 3 Year Anniversary Month:

our full upcoming calendar: arrambam.com/experiences

see you on the dance floor,

as usual, this is just the ar•ram•bam 🫡

the ar•ram•bam team 💎