Origins Of The Sunanda

The Sunanda is a Modern Step, meaning it’s on Tribal Basics Volume 7 Creative Steps and Combinations. This step was created by my dear teacher, Megha, while she was living in New Orleans, Louisiana between 1998 -2003.

Dr. Sunanda Nair was teaching a Rajasthani dance workshop and of course, Megha’s love of all things India and Indian dance drew her in.

In fact, this was the same workshop that inspired the WaterPot and the Resham-Ka.

The original step that inspired the Sunanda looks something like this:

Megha tailored the step to align with the FCBD®Style aesthetic. The added shimmy magnifies the fun and dynamic energy that is so present in this step.

You can check out an example of the Sunanda on our new Vocabulary Page.

Over the years we (Devyani) added variations like the Sundana Duet Combination and yes, we have a new class on this dialect step that releases next week!

We even had a ¼ turn version, but ultimately it was way too long of a combination so we stopped using it.

Dr. Sunanda Nair moved to Houston after hurricane Katrina. While she no longer teaches Rajasthani dance, she is a world reknown Mohini Attam dancer and teaches at her very own: Sunanda's Performing Arts Center –SPARC.

Here’s a lovely photo of her.

I hope these origin and history stories ignite a deeper love of these steps and our dance style.  Please feel free to share this and all our free resources with your dance friends and students!