Saturday: 3 p.m. Penobscot; Sunday: noon Children’s Area, 3:15 p.m. Penobscot.

Master dancer, teacher and choreographer Jothi Raghavan is one of the foremost exponents of Bharata Natyam, a 3,000-year-old southern India dance style. Like most of India’s ancient dances, it is religious in origin. Often considered the most popular of the seven or eight classic Indian dance styles, Bharata Natyam is noted for its beauty, elegance and grace.

The way in which Bharata Natyam is performed today evolved about 200 years ago in the southern province of Tanjore. Falling under the patronage of kings and nobles, it became less religious in nature, which led to a gradual degeneration of the art until the tradition started to come back about 40 years ago.

Bharata Natyam takes two basic forms: Nritta, purely rhythmic movement, and Nritya, which incorporates interpretative miming to tell the story of the song being sung.

Nritta involves intricate footwork to complicated rhythmic patterns, while Nritya uses the hands, eyes, face and other parts of the body in narrating the tale.

Jothi Raghavan began dancing at a very young age under the tutelage of her mother, Vimala Ramanujam, a noted dancer. She trained in the famous Vazhuvoor style under the master Guru Kalaimamani S.K. Rajarathnam. She has performed all over India and the Far East, as well as throughout the United States.

Raghavan had intended to focus solely on performing Bharata Natyam when she moved to Massachusetts 31 years ago. Life in a new country relatively unfamiliar with Indian culture and dance presented many challenges. She recounts: “The world those days was completely different from today. Nobody knew what a vegetarian was.” In those early years, audiences often confused her “Indian” dances with those of American Indians. She once performed Bharata Natyam for an audience that was expecting a “rain dance.”

She founded Nrityanjali, an educational organization based in Westford, Mass., where she has taught this treasured dance to students for the past 28 years. She also established the Academy of Indian Performing Arts 18 years ago, and has served as artistic director since its inception.

Raghavan says dance has transformed her life completely. “I’m so grateful that I stumbled into this opportunity. That’s been the constant in my life. That has really made my life.” Although Raghavan still enjoys performing herself, she takes tremendous pride and joy in the development of her students. She appears at the first American Folk Festival with an entourage of 10 talented dancers and accompanying musicians.

Raghavan has always had a strong vision to carry on traditional Indian dance in the United States, placing an emphasis on high standards and discipline in the teaching of traditional Indian dance. She makes annual trips to India so that she remains aware of the latest cultural and artistic interpretations of the dance form. All of her efforts as a teacher and dancer are guided toward educating and helping others cultivate an appreciation for Bharata Natyam.