When ballet practitioner and teacher Ashifa Sarkar Vasi was growing up in the United States of America (USA), her dance school would participate in an annual congregation. In between juggling masterclasses, workshops and seminars, and exchanging notes with fellow ballet dancers from different places, she would go on to not just refine her moves, but also experience a sense of belonging to a committed community. Since she started teaching ballet in Mumbai in 2007, the ballerina dreamt of creating that community for the small but growing circle of practitioners in India. It led her to curate the Ballet Festival of India in 2017 to support the growth, exposure and education of ballet in India. Now, in its third edition, the festival is back in a hybrid format, calling upon ballet dancers, young and old, from Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Kolkata.

Sarah Surinder Kundi. Pic courtesy/Karolina Kuras; (right) Adji Cissoko