Varnam: The Colours of Tradition
Photo: Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay
📅 When
Sat 28 Nov 2026, 7:15pm
📍 Where
Esplanade Concourse
1 Esplanade Drive, Singapore 038981
💸 Price
Free
🧭 Getting there
- 🚇 Esplanade MRT, Exit D — about 6 min walk
Walking times are estimates from the venue’s location.
A bharathanatyam varnam — the most demanding item in the form — tells a woman's story of unreturned love at Esplanade Concourse, free.
The varnam is the centrepiece of a bharathanatyam performance, and the most demanding thing a dancer has to carry. This one gives the form's three strands — nritta's pure footwork, nritya's expressive gesture and natya's storytelling — to a single arc: a woman whose feelings for a man are not returned, telling a female friend about her longing and the past meetings that made her think there was more to it than there was. When she learns he does not feel the same, she lets him go.
Performed by dancers from Singapore, it runs 30 minutes at Esplanade Concourse on Saturday 28 November 2026, starting 7.15pm. Entry is free, so you can walk in off the waterfront and catch a classical form at close range without buying a ticket.
Details compiled by Onz from public listings — always confirm with the organiser before heading down.
