Kolhapur Dancers Perform Bharatanatyam At Everest Base Camp

Kolhapur: It is a dream for many Indians to scale the peak of Mount Everest. Part of their training before they venture to scale the peak is trekking to the base camp of Mount Everest. This time, a few dancers from Kolhapur in Maharashtra have paid homage to the world's highest peak by performing Bharatanatyam dance at the Everest Base Camp.

Tapasyasiddhi School of Bharatanatyam in Kolhapur undertook this historic initiative. The dancers received praise for their bone-chilling performance in the blistering cold. Moreover, they performed without shoes and in traditional Bharatanatyam dance attire.

This 17-member team began their trek on October 23, 2025 and performed Bharatanatyam at three different places on their ardous journey. The first performance was at Thengbo Monastery at an altitude of 12,687 feet, and the second performance was at Everest Base Camp at 17,650 feet. The subsequent journey proved to be even more difficult. It was a test of their courage. The temperatures dropped to -18 degrees Celsius when they performed their dance at an altitude of 18,200 feet, gathering all their stamina at Kala Patthar.

Guru Nritya Chandrika Sanyogita Patil, along with her disciples Divya Warke, Mitali Maharaj and Pranjal Dalvi, organised these Bharatanatyam performances. Patil and her disciples presented religious ritual dance performances like Ganapati Stuti, Shiv Shloka, Ram Stuti, Bhaja Govindam and Mangalam.

Kolhapur Dancers Perform Bharatanatyam at Everest Base Camp (ETV Bharat)

The dancers claim to have performed in extremely harsh and chilly conditions, without even wearing thick boots. They achieved this feat by overcoming five consecutive days of snowfall and freezing temperatures. They shared their experiences at an event organised by Vinod Kamboj and Khushi Kamboj from Kolhapur.

They said, through this experiment, they wanted to showcase Bharatanatyam on a global level for spreading world peace. "We could achieve this unique feat thanks to the blessings of Guru Nataraja. We are that we could take Bharatanatyam to a unique place on our planet. We are happy to achieve this with the collaboration with organisations like Summit Adventure, ABC Adventure Nepal, and Aster Aadhar," said Patil.

Kolhapur Dancers Perform Bharatanatyam at Everest Base Camp (ETV Bharat)

Kamboj said that there is usually no oxygen in the higher altitudes, making it difficult to breathe. They undertook special training before venturing on this adventure.

"Our entire team was trained in mountain climbing, we made the climbers undergo acclimitisation to less oxygen that helped them to be physically prepared. All these efforts helped the participants not be short of breath when they performed at the Everest Base Camp," informed Kamboj.

The dancers focused closely on their breathing and movements. "We performed with complete concentration, without getting distracted by the surrounding environment. Moreover, once we tied the ghungroos to our feet, we did wear our shoes and danced in the snow," said Patil.

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