Poet Anupama Raju and Bharatanatyam dancer Rajashree Warrier discuss their collaborative production

Can the navarasa or nine emotions in Bharatamuni’s Natyashastra be interpreted differently? Ten years ago, writer Anupama Raju presented these rasas in a new light, in her book, Nine, as a series of triolets (eight-line poems using a strict rhyme and repetition structure). Years later when she thought of giving an interpretation to these poems through dance, she found a collaborator in the multifaceted Bharatanatyam exponent Rajashree Warrier. The result was the production, NINE – Our Circle of Lines, which blends ‘poetry, movement, music and space to explore these powerful emotions’. It premiered at the annual Kerala Literary Festival (KLF) at Kozhikode in January 2025, with a second staging in Kolkata in December. This weekend, they will take the stage at Bengaluru Poetry Festival.