On a memorable night a few years ago at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the classical Indian dancers Bijayini Satpathy and Surupa Sen performed a duet in front of the great sandstone Temple of Dendur. Time stood still, every detail of their partnering so seamless that they appeared almost as one body, moving in harmony with the music.

That fusion of shape and musicality was the fruit of a long collaboration — the women had danced together for more than two decades. Until late last year, they created work at their home base at Nrityagram, a company and dance school near Bangalore in southern India. Ms. Sen was the choreographer, and Ms. Satpathy the star dancer and teacher.

But as she approached 40, Ms. Satpathy said recently, she felt a new desire — to test herself by carrying an evening on her own. She had “a strong urge to push into an untouched and underexplored dimension” of her artistry “before it was too late,” she said over tea in Brooklyn, where she was staying with friends.

Last year, when she turned 45, she told Ms. Sen that she would be taking some time away from Nrityagram to explore. She quit her position as director of the school and senior dancer in the company.