Image Credit: Divya Kasturi Company Put on a headset. Enter a South Indian temple. Let a 2,000-year-old dance tradition guide you from the threshold to the inner sanctum.
MargaM is a virtual reality experience created by British-Indian dance artist Divya Kasturi, working with a team of digital collaborators including volumetric capture specialists and creative technologists. The work takes audiences into the world of Bharatanatyam, one of the world’s oldest classical dance forms, born in the temples of South India and carrying histories of devotion, resistance and survival.
Inside the headset, you can look freely in every direction – taking in the temple’s architecture, experiencing the dancer’s gestures up close and moving through an original soundscape of voice, music and song. It isn’t a film watched from a seat, but an immersive world experienced from within.
MargaM opens this ancient dance form to new audiences while honouring the women whose dancing kept its traditions alive. No dance knowledge or previous VR experience is needed.
More information at South East Dance
About Divya Kasturi
Divya Kasturi is a British-Indian dance artist whose practice spans performance, Carnatic music, choreography, teaching and digital technology. For more than a decade she has combined the traditions of Bharatanatyam with new technologies, including pioneering work bringing 3D hologram technology together with classical dance.
Her credits include work with Sir Paul McCartney, Maestro Ilaiyaraaja and Simon McBurney, as well as Complicité, Studio Wayne McGregor, Akram Khan Company, London Contemporary Dance School and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. She is a recipient of a Time and Space Commission with Sadler’s Wells.
What to expect
MargaM is experienced individually through a virtual reality headset, with each bookable session lasting 30 minutes. Sessions accommodate a maximum of two people.
Available slots are: 10.30–11am, 11–11.30am, 11.40am–12.10pm, 12.10–12.40pm, 12.50–1.20pm, 1.20–1.50pm, 2–2.30pm, 2.30–3pm, 3.10–3.40pm, 3.40–4.10pm and 4.30–5pm.
The experience is hosted and facilitated by the DKC team.
Accessibility
There is step-free access, and the experience is suitable for wheelchair users. A chair is available for anyone who would prefer or need to experience the work seated.
MargaM can also be experienced visually without relying on sound.
The VR headset blocks most external sound and the experience involves some movement and head turning, which may not be suitable for people who are prone to motion sickness.
If you have access needs that South East Dance can support on the day, contact programming@southeastdance.org.uk in advance.
Audience target/s
Those who are 12+ are welcome to take part.
Audience type / suitability
Suitable for ages 12+. No previous experience of dance, Bharatanatyam or virtual reality is required.
Organiser
South East Dance, videoclub