How Bengali folk music & dance went viral from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam

At a time when videos of Indian tourists dancing abroad are drawing flak online for being intrusive or insensitive, a very different scene unfolded in Amsterdam. Nearly 1,500 people joined Amsterdam-based fashion student Aishwarya Bhattacharjee at the Van Gogh Museum and danced to the Bengali folk song, Tomar Ghore Boshot Kore Koy Jona. Most didn’t understand the language and none had rehearsed the steps, yet the strangers instinctively danced in harmony. For Aishwarya, it was much more than just a viral moment. “Growing up in Amsterdam wasn’t easy. I often felt alone, isolated, like I didn’t belong. But that day felt different. For a moment, everything shifted.” While the crowd enjoyed a unique cultural experience, she found something she had been searching for all her life – a sense of belonging. “Born and raised in the Netherlands to Bengali-Sylheti parents, my skin colour is dusky, which makes it difficult for people to accept me here. On the other hand, when I go back to our homeland, I’m treated differently because I don’t belong there either. So I keep asking myself: “What are my roots? Where do I belong?” When she was invited to perform at the Van Gogh Museum’s Friday evening programme for young creators, themed around holding on to something, the answer came naturally: “To my roots and heritage.”Making of the viral moment The performance was entirely Aishwarya’s own creation. She developed the concept, selected the music, and led the evening herself. It began with Rabindra Sangeet, but she always wanted it to become more than a solo act. “Dance has always been a community experience for me,” she says. The Van Gogh Museum had encouraged her to make the performance interactive, but with nearly 1,500 people in attendance, she wasn’t sure whether a traditional Sylheti Dhamail — a folk dance usually performed at weddings and family gatherings — would work. “I just said, ‘Now I want to dance with you in a circle’ I was nervous. The place was so busy that I thought it wouldn’t be possible.” In the end, all she had to do was explain the basics: clap to the rhythm and move together in a circle. “Everyone just stood in a circle. They made space for one another and went with the flow. It didn’t feel like we were from different backgrounds. We were simply people dancing together. It was truly magical.” The response exceeded all expectations. Staff members told her they had goosebumps watching the crowd participate. “As the performance ended, chants of ‘one more, one more’ broke out from the audience,” she said. “There were other performances scheduled, so we couldn’t continue,” she laughs, “But people really wanted another round.” The Bengali community in attendance was particularly moved. “Seeing our culture celebrated in such an iconic space meant a lot. Many wanted another Dhamail session later.”