Dance as Truth
In this interview, Lubna Marium — dancer, choreographer, and founder of Dhaka's Sadhana — discusses her new initiative Embodied Feminism, which challenges dancers to use their practice as a vehicle for social commentary and women's empowerment rather than performance alone. She pushes back against the narrative that the arts are in decline in Bangladesh, reflects on the pluralistic religious culture of East Bengal as a foundation for artistic freedom, and traces the intellectual journey — through the Natyashastra, Kashmir Shaivism, and Vajrayana Buddhism — that led her to learn Sanskrit. Her central argument is that art and religion are not in opposition: both, at their core, are in pursuit of truth.
