Bharatanatyam is the most widely known and exalted of the classical Indian dance forms. It has existed in its present form for about 70 years, but its roots can be traced back several hundreds of years.

The word Silambam in Tamil, was referred to as ‘Samu’ in Telugu, in the Sangita Saramruta of King Tulaja of Tanjore (1729-1735) indicating the practice of dance. It is the name by which Bharatanatyam was known, and the dance hall itself was called the ‘Silamba Koodam’ in the olden days.

Silambam Houston was founded by Dr. Lavanya Rajagopalan in 2002, offering dance classes at no charge to interested students in Galveston.  The school expanded to a second location at Pearland in 2005. After operating on a non-profit basis for several years, the organization was formally registered as a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt arts organization in 2007, with the mission of promoting the performing arts, furthering artistic education in an affordable manner, and promoting young talent in the artistic field. Silambam Houston currently has an enrollment of about 50 students, and a faculty of five dance and theory instructors.

Silambam Houston follows the tradition of a sisterhood of dance schools around the world run by former students of Shree Bharatalaya, an institution of fine arts in Chennai, India. These include schools in India, Switzerland, Australia and the United States. The founders of the Silambam schools strive to build on the excellent grounding they received at Shree Bharatalaya, under the tutelage of Padmashri Sudharani Raghupathy and Padmabhushan Vidwan Madurai Shri N. Krishnan.