(September 3, 2025) In just over a decade, Aayana Dance Company has gone from intimate stage productions to performing on some of the world’s biggest platforms. Its choreography has dazzled at Ambani family celebrations, captivated audiences at ICCR tours across the U.S., Africa and Europe, and even taken center stage at the 2023 G20 Summit, where Krishna Manognya Baleraju and his ensemble performed before Prime Minister Modi and global leaders. The dance company’s cinematic work too has been widely acclaimed. Krishna’s choreography in the Telugu film Natyam earned a national award, and contribution to a Telugu horror comedy Om Bheem Bush showcased the flair for blending tradition with contemporary storytelling.
Choreographer and artistic director Krishna Manognya Baleraju founded Aayana Dance Company in 2009 with a vision to bring classical idioms into conversation with modern narratives. He is supported by a close-knit leadership team of performers including Pallavi Manjunath, Vishal Swamy, Raksha Ganesh, and Manish Kumar, who have played significant roles in shaping Aayana’s vision and growth.
From texts to textures of dance
Before Aayana, Krishna was an English literature student, fascinated by the power of stories. Courses like Revisiting Indian Epics, East–West Encounters, Shifting Perspectives, and Narratology shaped his understanding of how myths and ideas travel across cultures. At 18, this exploration of texts unexpectedly led him to discover dance as a living vocabulary that could carry the very same complexity, emotion, and interpretation as the literature he loved. “It helped me break away from rigid traditional frameworks and search my own path of expression,” he says with a smile in a chat with Global Indian.
The roots of this journey, however, reach back even further. As a schoolboy on summer break in 2009, Krishna staged his first production—a three-hour show on environmental issues that sold out and raised funds for Greenpeace. Initially called Dreams Incorporated, this youthful experiment in combining art and activism gradually matured into what is today the Aayana Dance Company, carrying forward the same spirit but with a more professional and expansive vision.
Tirtha in Singapore
A recent milestone in Aayana’s journey was the world premiere of the dance drama Tirtha staged at the PGP Hall of the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple during the Samhita Dance Festival in Singapore. It marked the first time Aayana launched a world premiere outside India. Originally commissioned by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), the production marked a special reunion, bringing Aayana’s full ensemble of principal dancers together onstage for the first time in over a year.
“Tirtha is part of our continuing mission of sharing deeply rooted, spiritually resonant Indian dance with audiences around the world,” says the dancer-choreographer. He says the premiere in Singapore was a full house, and the response was overwhelming, with audiences expressing deep appreciation for the performance. ‘I feel incredibly fortunate that people everywhere are eager to experience our work.’
Traditionally, Aayana’s premieres begin at home before traveling across the globe, with past tours taking them to America, Europe, and Africa. ‘This time, however, we chose to start in Singapore, with upcoming presentations in Australia, followed by Europe, America, and finally a return to India—almost like an anti-clockwise journey around the world.”
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Overcoming challenges
“We’ve poured our heart and soul into every production, facing challenges that often felt insurmountable,” says Krishna.
From convincing parents that dance could be a full-time pursuit in India to navigating an ecosystem that was not very receptive in the late ’90s and early 2000s, every obstacle on the road to Aayana’s launch only strengthened his conviction.
Looking back, Krishna says he isn’t sure if success can be measured in conventional terms. “But what I do know is that everything we’ve built has been with complete passion, intention, and an unwavering belief in dance as a way of life. That, to me, is true success.”
The dancers who give Aayana its soul
Besides Krishna, the team at Aayana includes passionate dancers. Based between Bangalore and Hyderabad, they have evolved together while sharing their work across diverse cultures and communities.
Productions like Dhruva, Atharva, Partha, and Tirtha delve into Bhakti—not just as a theme, but as a lived and embodied experience. Yet the company remains deeply rooted in activism. From environmental advocacy to identity politics, their performances hold up a mirror to the world—grounded in tradition yet speaking powerfully to the present.
Surreal moments along the way
Moments like being part of a film that earned a national award for choreography appears surreal to Krishna. There are many such moments that he has witnessed in his career. “At high-profile events such as the Ponniyin Selvan releases, even artists like Aishwarya Rai have taken the time to come up on stage, personally appreciating the performances, and acknowledge the dancers and choreography,” smiles Krishna, beaming with pride.
Whether they’re celebrities, choreographers like Vaibhavi Merchant, top government functionaries or people in small towns, Krishna says he is always grateful for his audiences’ appreciation.
“What touches us most is that this love isn’t limited to grand stages. Even when we perform in small temples, community spaces, or local productions, people come up to us afterward to say how deeply the performance moved them,” says Krishna, pointing out that the heartfelt feedback, no matter from whom it comes from, is what truly keeps Aayana going.”
The Bangalore boy
Born in Bangalore in 1992 to parents from Hyderabad, Krishna grew up with the influences of both Telugu and Kannada cultures.
“I suppose I’ve always been a child who danced, though funnily enough, I never attended a class,’ smiles the dancer-choreographer. Once, when his mother enrolled him, he ran away, intimidated by the teacher. “So throughout my childhood I never formally danced — instead, I immersed myself in theatre,” says Krishna, who studied at Presidency College and later at St. Joseph’s.
Krishna considers himself fortunate to be part of Vijayanagara Bimba in Bangalore, a wonderful theatre school that shaped his artistic worldview. “It wasn’t limited to acting — there was music, dance, art, and craft. That holistic exposure expanded my creative lens and laid the foundation for my artistic journey.”
Academically, he was a voracious reader, so much so that some of his reviews were published in national newspapers.
Outside academics, football was his passion. “I played for 15 years straight, from first grade until graduation, and only then did I stop,” recalls Krishna, whose ambitions kept evolving. Watching National Geographic and Animal Planet shaped a strong worldview. ‘By my valedictory year, I was torn between becoming an actor, a biologist saving the environment, or even a politician determined to change the system — lofty dreams, but ones that shaped my outlook.”
Family of artists
Creativity runs deep in Krishna’s family. His mother, an artist and photographer, had a profound impact on Krishna. “She nurtured my sense of aesthetics and creativity, influencing the way I saw and expressed the world.”
Krishna’s grandparents, Baleraju Krishnamrajegaru and Baleraju Kasturi Bai were prolific figures in art, music, dance, and theatre. They were among the first editors of Sutradhari magazine — one of the earliest film magazines in Telugu — and travelled extensively across countries for performances and cultural exchanges. All of this — the art, culture, and global exposure in his family deeply shaped Krishna’s thinking, ideals, and aspirations while growing up. “My grandfather also served as president of the Indo-Japanese Friendship Association, and he and my father often represented India in Japan,” informs Krishna.
Shaping Aayana as a movement
“We are fortunate to have built a global community of more than 5,000 learners and collaborators. We don’t see them as ‘students’ alone, but as co-creators and fellow travellers on the journey of dance,” he says, adding that together, they aim to make art accessible, transformative, and inclusive.
“Aayana continues to dance with purpose, bridging the local and the global. Perhaps if more of our leaders, thinkers, and policymakers embraced the spirit of artists, the world itself would be a very different place,” adds the dancer-choreographer.
Krishna Manognya Baleraju’s vision is to ensure that access to art isn’t limited to dance classes in one city, but spreads into every corner of society — rural and urban alike. “We see Aayana not just as a company but as a movement, one that brings dance and art closer to people everywhere,” he signs off.
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