September 2025: Youth are the Future of Culture

A young woman in a brightly-colored sari kneels on the dance floor, her hands held in front of her in a gesture of yearning. Her face has a desperate, imploring expression. — Nitya Nandakesan, Bharatanatyam dancer

In our Spotlight series, we take a closer look into the kaleidoscope of traditional arts in Central Pennsylvania and the work of artists featured in our Folk Artists Gallery. In this article, folklorist Amy Skillman is inspired to see young people pouring their hearts into traditional arts.

I recently had a day that filled me with hope: seeing young teenagers, in two separate settings, pouring their hearts into traditional arts. Experiences like that remind me how lucky I am to be a folklorist working with Susquehanna Folk.

On that day, folk music from Nepal and classical dance from India were the focus. But our area has many ways for young people to learn traditional arts: those of their own family or those of other cultures, from Chinese calligraphy to Balkan music to Irish dance. And the day reminded me of my visit to last year's Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which celebrated traditions being both preserved and shaped by the creativity of today’s youth.

Biplab the drummer

Biplab Khatiwada plays tablas, in a double exposure that creates a sense of motion in Biplab's arms and hands. He sits cross-legged on the floor behind two drums, each about a foot high, one narrower and higher pitched than the other. Three larger, taller drums are off to the side. — Biplab Khatiwada plays tablas.

Sixteen-year-old Biplab Khatiwada (bip-PLAHV) has embraced Nepali drumming as part of who he is. He has been playing tablas (TAH‑blaz) since he was seven years old. He transitions smoothly between the pair of tablas and the double-headed madal (like ’model"), two kinds of drums common in Nepali music.

I had come that morning to chat with his father (Bhagirath Khatiwada) and his teacher (Muskan Balampaki Magar) about their apprenticeship in Nepali harmonium playing, but I was impressed and inspired Biplab’s accompaniment on drums. Bhagirath has been impressed too — his son's success is what inspired him to start learning harmonium.

When the two harmonium players get together to perform for others, Biplab is there to enhance the music with complex rhythms and crisp tones. He has an easy relationship with the drums, as if they have been friends for years, and only needs a simple word or nod from Muskan to understand what rhythm to play next. As he thinks about his future, he says he will probably study business in college, but he plans to continue playing the music of his heritage. “It connects me to my culture,” he says.

Two men sit on the floor, each with a harmonium. The student concentrates on his instrument; the teacher is explaining something. Off to one side is a teenage boy with curly black hair, playing small hand drums that sit on the floor. — Biplab Katiwada (right) plays *tablas* as Muskan Balampaki Magar *(moos‑KAHN)* (center) teaches his father Bhagirath *(bah‑gah‑RAHT)* (left) to play harmonium.

Nitya the dancer

A young woman performs a classical Indian dance. She wears a silken costume of magenta and pale yellow, with bands of tiny bells around her ankles. Her posture and gestures are stylized, both graceful and exaggerated, lifting a knee in one shot, extending her foot in another. — Nitya Nandakesan begins her *arangetram* performance, portraying Lord Shiva.

An hour later, I was sitting in a darkened auditorium, the air swirling with the scent of fresh jasmine flowers and the soulful sounds of Carnatic music. On the stage, 14-year-old Nitya Nandakesan expertly offered two hours of intricate and expressive Bharatanatyam (bah-ruh-taa-NAA-tee-uhm) dance, sharing the stories and traditions of her Indian heritage.

A dancer’s arangetram (AH-run-gay-TRUM) is her on-stage solo debut demonstrating years of training with a guru. In Tamil (a major language of southern India), arangetram translates to “ascending the stage” and symbolizes the dancer’s readiness to perform professionally and share their art with the world. Nitya explained that it is the beginning of her life as a dancer, not the end of her years of training. She began studying with Rachita Nambiar six years ago, eager to begin after watching her older sister learn to dance.

A young woman performs a classical Indian dance.She is crouching with her arms out in front of her as if she holds a box, and she looks worried. At left are four musicians sitting cross-legged on a low platform. The dancer's dress is magenta and orange, with a pleated skirt, and decorations on her head. — Nitya's teacher Rachita is at far left. I love how her expression mirrors that of the dancer. Bharatanatyam dance communicates so much with gesture, facial expression, graceful postures and movements.

Bharatanatyam dance in Central PA

Rachita Nambiar Menon created Rasika School of Dance in Harrisburg to teach Bharatanatyam dance, an intricate and centuries-old classical dance tradition from southern India. Bharatanatyam dance is one way that Indian immigrant communities are able to hold onto their cultural identity. Through dance, the generation growing up in America learns important history, values, aesthetics and beliefs.

Rachita has also collaborated with Gamut Theatre to blend traditional Indian dance and contemporary theatre. A Folk Arts Spotlight in 2022 described her Panchatantra Tales, in which young actors dramatized ancient animal fables from India that teach the five principles of being wise humans.

“I love to pass this down to the next generation,” Rachita says. “It should be taught; it should be made visible to other people.”

Preserving and shaping traditions

Four photos of young people presenting at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival: a young woman sawing a log to make a cabin, a woman teaching a child to skateboard, a young man showing a boy a skateboard, and a 5-year-old Native American dancer. — Four photos of young people presenting at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival

My visit last summer to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the Mall in Washington, D.C., was also inspiring in its celebration of youth as the future of culture. Today’s youth are embracing traditions of the past. The festival showcased young people learning building trades (i.e. stone carving, plastering, decorative painting), wordsmithing stories into poetry, innovating on cultural and regional recipes passed down through the generations, and reclaiming lost languages of their indigenous ancestors. Traditional skills like those are often learned in formal settings such as apprenticeships or preservation programs, which offer young artists the opportunity to develop expertise and reinforce their sense of who they are.

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival also explored the culture of youth which is learned and passed on in informal settings: within families, at playgrounds and camps, in clubs and on the street. Today’s youth are shaping tomorrow’s cultural traditions (music, dance, visual arts, storytelling, spoken and written language) through popular music, games and songs, DJing, slang terms, new skateboarding tricks, social media language, fashion, murals and tagging. I hope to explore more informal examples of youth culture in future spotlights.

Finding a path into traditional arts

As I watched Nitya dancing and Biplab drumming, I wondered if their school classmates have seen this part of their lives. I wondered if Nitya’s friends outside the classical Indian dance community know about her incredible elegance, her strength, and the way she can tell a story with a few movements of her eyes. I wonder if Biplab’s school friends have heard the diverse, watery, resonant tones he can get out of two small hand drums.

Many children are enrolled by their parents in music and dance groups that help introduce them to their cultural heritage, but not all of them carry it forward and make it part of their identity in the way that Nitya and Biplab have. It takes a special kind of person to stick with it: one with confidence, dedication, and the willingness to be a little different. That is especially hard as a teen, when the pressure to conform is at its greatest.

Both Nitya and Biplab do it with confidence and grace. Like many young people practicing traditional arts, they are working within ancient structures, bringing their own interpretations to these art forms, enriching all our lives and ensuring these arts remain relevant into the future.

A young man sits cross-legged on the ground, behind two drums which he is playing with his hands. “Once you pick it up, you can’t put it back down.” —Biplab Khatiwada

Both students and mentors say that participating in traditional arts sets you on the right path for a well-lived life. That notion is borne out by research. A 10-year project undertaken by the Alliance for California Traditional Arts has demonstrated the power of traditional arts “to open pathways for connection, reflection, and mobilization” which has led to greater health equity in marginalized communities.

Here are some ways our local young folks find traditional arts:

“[Both of my parents loved folk music.] I grew up listening and playing music, and that set me on the right path to live my life. Music gave me the right direction.” —Muskan Balampaki Magar

Chinese arts: Folk Artists Gallery member Diana Meng and Chen-Yu Tseui have mentored many young people in the Chinese community (whether American-born, immigrant, or adoptee) through their work with the Chinese Cultural and Arts Institute, in Lawnton, PA. The institute offers classes in Mandarin, traditional dance, tai chi, calligraphy, drumming, and Chinese painting, to name a few. Most of those students carry those traditions into their future in some way, and make a point of staying in touch with their mentors. “My students learn how to be patient and to become skilled at the process of making their ink preparations long before they start painting.” —Diana Meng
Serbian & Croatian: Kolo Club “Marian” has been teaching and performing Croatian music and dance in Steelton for 71 years, with many of the students growing up to become teachers and musicians. All the members of Sviraj, a Steelton based Balkan music ensemble featured in our Folk Artists Gallery, grew up dancing and playing music in the warmth of Steelton community mentors. Now adults pursuing careers in education, insurance, accounting, etc., they continue to play and share the music of their heritage. ““I don’t remember not playing... I grew up hearing tambura bands. You were always at the hall, at the church. It is the stuff of the culture.” —Danilo Yanich of Sviraj
Irish trad: Central PA has a strong Irish music community, with regular gatherings of musicians and several schools of Irish dance. Folk Artists Gallery member Lesl Harker plays and teaches Irish flute in the old East Galway style, and mentored two apprentices this year. A web search for “Irish dance schools” or “Irish music sessions” turns up several possibilities around the region. “...children are encouraged, motivated and challenged to excel in Irish Dancing and in life.” —McGinley School of Irish Dance

Youth are the future of culture

I am heartened by what I see in our youth: the drive to create, the desire to use art to express values, and the passion to make beauty in our world. Keep an eye out and encourage them whenever you can.

A row of young women and girls, all wearing traditional Indian garments: colorful silken saris or long tunics with leggings. The girl in the center has just finished her debut recital. — Nitya Nandakesan (center, wearing ankle bells) with teacher Rachita Nambiar (on Nitya’s left) and students from the Rasika School of Dance.

References

Building Healthy Communities: (2021) Alliance for California Traditional Arts
Paris, D., & Alim, H. S. (Eds.). (2017). Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world. Teachers College Press.