During the 9th edition of the CinéMasala Indian Film Festival, a film festival to discover the Indian subcontinent in a different way, dancer Sharmila Rao gave a magnificent Bharata Natyam dance performance entitled Food of the Soul. Bharata Natyam is a major form of Tamil classical dance originating from Tamil Nadu in India. It is one of the oldest traditional Indian dances. Mixture of classical dance and martial art at the base, it is linked to religious practices from its origin. It is one of the eight dance forms recognized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the Indian National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama, the others being kathak, kuchipudi, odissi, kathakali, mohiniyattam, manipuri, sattriya and it expresses the religious themes and spiritual ideas of South India, in particular Shaivism, Vishnuism and Shaktism.
