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In a cluster of giggles, two young girls gracefully walk in sync into the empty room on Saturday. The laughs soon stop as the sisters, Priyanka Jayanti, 15, and Amritha Jayanti, 13, of Greenbelt begin their performance of an ancient art form, Bharatanatyam.

The sisters have spent eight to 10 years in training, the minimum amount of years one must spend in order to be able to perform on a professional level.

"It's very hard — it's a sport, but it's very fun and unique; you don't have to be Indian to do it," said Amritha. The girls made their Arangetram, or debut performance, Saturday at Sri Siva Vishnu Temple in Lanham.

The girls have been able to continue their important responsibilities as students as well as continue to dance despite a few bumps along the way. The girls have both lost extensive amounts of weight, dealt with knee problems and struggled to find other areas to practice when the family's house suffered severe flood damage, said the girls' mother, Lalitha Jayanti.

Bharatanatyam, meaning dance in accordance to Bharata Muni (the great sage), is one of the oldest forms of dance in the Indian culture created in the 19th century in the country's southern region.

The dance was mostly performed in temples as a form of worship to gods and goddesses of Hinduism. Until the 20th century when the dance began to be taught mainstream, it was performed by women designated to Hindu temples with the sole purpose of performing the dance for deities. Today, a number of universities in India teach Bharatanatyam and its culture in degree and graduate courses.

"This is an ancient art form that started in the temples and it just blew up from there," Priyanka said. "People started adopting it into their cultures. People do it all over India and other countries."

The dance is performed to classical Indian music in a revised version of the traditional Indian sari dress that makes dancing easier. The technique consists of three components Nritta (hand movements), Nritya (expressive movements) and Natya (dance with drama) that convey a story to the audience. The dancers performing must be able to move their body into extreme contortions as well as move their necks, hands and feet rhythmically in ways that take great skill and practice.

The girls began training when they were 5 and practiced two to three days a week for three hours or more.

Priyanka, a student at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, and Amritha, a student at Kenmoor Middle School in Landover, attend Jayamangala dance school in Laurel.

"At Jayamangala we teach not just technique but also dive deeper into the culture of India and the dance," said instructor Shobha Subramaniam. "It's a great way for Indian immigrants and their families to connect with their cultural roots. . . I think it's great we have such deep interest in the community."

Jayamangala dance school is a prestigious institution with locations in the United States and India. Jayamangala is known for its dancers, vocalists and orchestra that perform worldwide. During their training, Priyanka and Amritha were able to visit a location in India as well as have dancers from India help train them.

Priyanka and Amritha were very excited about their first performance where they were required to dance for more than two-and a half-hours through 10 separate choreographies.

"The girls were very nervous in the beginning, but they became more excited as they received positive feedback from the audience," their mother said. "They are relived and very happy."