Five exquisite women, as technically accomplished as temple dancers yet as modern-looking in some of their moves as any contemporary troupe, constitute this company headed by artistic director/choreographer Surupa Sen. They are graduates of Nrityagram Dance Village, a sort of dance collective near Bangalore that was founded in 1990 by Protima Gauri, who was determined to preserve the 2,000-year traditions of Indian dance.

All are expert in the time-honoured technique of Odissi, which originated in the north-eastern state of Orissa and is the most ancient of India’s schools of classical dance. No strangers to New York, they have bought the new Protima: Reflection, a tribute to the troupe’s founder. You don’t have to know anything about their culture or its traditions to realise that these dancers are capable of conveying a range of emotion in both gesture and expression. Though they sweetly smile much of the time, a cloud can descend and a touch of wrath be conveyed in vehement gesture.