A Boothalingam is an art critic, former Hindu
columnist and art promoter.
Anil Raj is a Vancouver-based writer, producer,
performer, film critic, and self-confessed dance junkie.
Trained in Bharatanatyam for the last twelve years,
Aparna Mathur is currently
learning at The Dance Centre, Delhi. As a leadership consultant, she works
with a wide cross section of people in helping them tap their potential. She
hopes someday to leverage the arts, in particular dance to enable the
above.
Bhavanvitha Venkat
is a writer, critic and Kuchipudi dancer. He is a
finance consultant, advisor to cultural institutes and likes to work on
creative ideas.
Chitra Sundaram is a Bharatanatyam dancer based in London. A choreographer,
performer and commentator, Chitra Sundaram also serves on private and public organisations in advisory and trustee capacities.
Devina Dutt is
a Mumbai based arts writer, editor and curator. She is the founder and
director of First Edition Arts, a Live Arts promotion company
Hareesh N. Nampoothiri is
a visual design consultant by profession, an art lover by obsession and a
photographer who specializes in dance photography. He writes regularly on
classical dance performances and films for various web / print media. He is
also an author of three books; director of ‘Thouryathrikam,’
a documentary feature on Kathakali and the founder
of NEWNMEDIA™, a firm providing digital design solutions.
Jyothi Raghuram is a
journalist with over two decades experience in both the print and electronic
media, having worked with news organizations such as PTI, The Hindu and
Indian Express. Her specialized writings on the performing and visual arts
have been considered as benchmarks for their comprehensive and in-depth
dealing of the subjects.
Dr. Ketu H Katrak is
Professor of Drama, University of California, Irvine.
Lakshmi Vishwanathan, a prime disciple of Guru Kanjeevaram Elappa Pillai, is an exponent of the Thanjavur
style of Bharatanatyam. She is also a trained
vocalist. She is the author of several acclaimed books: Bharatanatyam - the Tamil Heritage, Kunjamma
- Ode to a Nightingale, Kapaleeswara Temple, Women of Pride -The Devadasi
Heritage. Her film ‘The Poetry of Dance’ was commissioned by the
Festival of India. The Mamallapuram Dance Festival
started in 1991 was Lakshmi’s brainchild. She has served on several arts
committees. She is Vice President of Music Academy (Chennai) and member
of South Zone Cultural Centre.
Lalitha Venkat
is the content editor of www.narthaki.com
Madhu Nataraj
is an exponent of Kathak & Contemporary Indian
dance. She is the artistic director of STEM Dance Kampni, Bangalore
Mala Mohan is a grade A Carnatic vocalist for AIR. She is also a guest
lecturer at the Queen Marys College, Chennai, Dept of Music. She completed an M. Phil in Indian music
and is presently doing a doctorate in Niravals, the
backbone of Manodharma Sangeetham.
She has presented many papers at international and national seminars of music
and conducts workshops in India and abroad.
Manjari Sinha has an MA
in Sanskrit from Allahabad University, MA in Music from Vikram
University, Ujjain; B.Ed. from Lucknow University; Sangeet Prabhakar in vocal, tabla, sitar and Kathak dance
from Prayag Sangeet Smiti, Allahabad; and further training in sitar from guru
Arvind Parikh in the lineage of Ustad
Vilayat Khan. She contributes articles in English
and Hindi on Music (Hindustani & Carnatic), Dance, Art & Culture for
various leading music journals and periodicals. She gives lec-dems
on Indian classical music and dance in India and abroad.
Masoom Parmar
is an Art Manager at Nritarutya, a dancer and a
physiotherapist.
Maya Kulkarni performed extensively in the
United States, Europe and India, and produced and choreographed several
full-length dance dramas ('Shakuntala', 'Kumarasambhavam' etc.). Called "the dancer's
dancer" by the NY Times, her ability to elicit rasa, through an
understanding of text, music, and abhinaya is
masterful.
Meghna Rao is a
member of the STEM Dance Kampni.
Nagalakshmi Bhagavatula
is a trained dancer and also legal advisor in a leading software company.
Nanditha Prabhu
is a Mohiniattam and Bharatanatyam
dancer trained under her mother Kalamandalam Suganthi and Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam
respectively. She runs her dance school Mythri Art
Academy in Chennai.
Dr. Nima Poovaya-Smith
is Director, Alchemy in Leeds.
Dr. Nita Vidyarthi is a critic of performing
arts, specialising in dance, dance theatre and
expressions and is a regular contributor to The Hindu, and the Statesman
Kolkata in dance, vocal music and theatre. She is trained in Kathak, Bharatanatyam and
Manipuri as well as vocal, semi-classical music and Rabindra
Sangeet. A Science communicator, Ph.D. in Polymer
Science, Commonwealth Scholar and a retired Professor of Chemistry, Nita
devotes most of her time to dance and theatre writing.
Nishith Anand,
a lecturer in the School of Management Studies at Chinmaya
Institute of Technology, has an MBA from University of Calicut. An engineer
by education and designer by vocation, Nishith also
engages in painting, creative writing and
photography.
Padma Jayaraj is a freelance writer on the Arts
and travel and is a regular contributor to www.narthaki.com
Dr. Padmini Sirish of Aradhana Arts, a disciple of Late Guru Narmada,
Bangalore, is currently being mentored by Rama Vaidyanathan,
New Delhi.
Poornima Ramaprasad
follows Indian classical music and dance forms. She reviews Indian dance and
drama events in the San Francisco bay area from time to time.
Poornima Gururaja is the
Director, Kalasindhu Academy of Dance and Related
Arts, Bangalore.
Poornima Gururaja,
a disciple of Guru Narmada, is an exponent of the Pandanallur
/ Tanjore School of dance. She founded the Kalasindhu Academy of Dance and Related Arts in 2009 in
Bangalore.
Priya Das is a writer based in San
Francisco Bay Area, USA, covering extraordinary nuances of everyday life with
a focus on the performing arts. She is a regular contributor to India
Currents, a magazine reaching more than 170K readers on and offline. Some of
her writing is at www.priyafeatures.com
Radhika Kathal
is a Bharatanatyam performer and musician trained
in both folk and classical dance forms. A disciple of Geeta Chandran, Radhika is recipient of the ‘Scholarship for Young
Artistes’ from the Ministry of Culture. She is pursuing a 2-year Diploma in
Hindustani classical music from Faculty of Music and Fine Arts, University of
Delhi.
Radhika Shetty
is a Bharatanatyam performer and founder-director
of Nrityaangan, Mangalore.
Rakesh Khanna studied
contemporary percussion music at the University of California, Santa Cruz
before switching to mathematics and moving to Chennai, where he co-founded
the alternative publishing house Blaft in 2007. He
is the editor of The Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp
Fiction Vols. 1 and 2 and co-editor of the comics-and-visual-arts collection
The Obliterary Journal.
A software engineer by profession, Rakesh Konni is a lover of classical dance forms and music. Writing
and photography are his passions.
Renu Ramanath is an
independent journalist and columnist based in Kochi. A former staff reporter
of The Hindu (Kochi) she specializes in visual and performing art forms,
architecture and related subjects.
Dr. Rohini Dandavate, a
former dance officer of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, is an exponent
of Odissi, a scholar and arts administrator.
Dr. SD Desai, a professor of English, has been a Performing Arts Critic for
many years. Among the dance journals he has contributed to are Narthaki, Sruti, Nartanam and Attendance.
He guest-edited Attendance 2013 Special
Issue. His books have been published by Gujarat Sahitya
Academy, Oxford University Press and Rupa. After 30
years with a national English daily, he is now a
freelance art writer.
Satish Suri has been an
ardent follower of dance and music for more than 40 years, starting with
being on the committee of the International
Music and Arts Society founded by Vijaya Devi,
sister of the Late Maharaja of Mysore, Jayachamarajendra
Wodeyar and now presently is treasurer of World
Dance Alliance Karnataka Chapter. He has presented several artistes, both
dancers and musicians, over the last 40 years.
(2017)
Bangalore
based Satish Suri is an
avid dance rasika besides being a life member of
the Music and Arts Society.
Shalaka Deshpande
is a teacher, anchor and dance enthusiast based in Aurangabad.
Shveta Arora is a blogger
based in Delhi. She writes about cultural events in the capital.
A former journalist with Indian Express and The Hindu for 20 years in
Bhubaneswar covering culture, Shyamhari Chakra is
presently based at New Delhi as an independent dance writer.
Smitha Shenoy
is the Head of Journalism Department, Besant College, Mangalore.
Sneha Ramachandran
has been a Bharatanatyam student of Krishnakumari Narendran from
the age of 5. After her arangetram at the age of 14
she has continued learning, teaching and performing. She currently
lives and works in Dubai.
Dr. Sreedevi N Nampoothiri
is an Ayurvedic physician by profession and an
ardent lover of classical art forms. She received basic training in Mohiniattam and Bharatanatyam
during her school days and is now pursuing her Mohiniattam
under Kalamandalam Shobha.
Sudha Sridhar, a double graduate in Law
& Dance is a cultural activist working on advocacy efforts to preserve,
promote and propagate art forms and for the cultural rights and welfare
measures for artists. Currently her main focus is on Kuchipudi
heritage village and promotion of all the three streams of South Indian Yakshagana – Karnataka Yakshagana,
Kuchipudi Yakshaganam and
Melattur Bhagavathamela.
Dr. Sujatha Maringati
is a scientist and a lawyer based in Hyderabad. She has a certificate in Bharatanatyam from Bhaktha Ramadas College for Music and Dance in Hyderabad, and is
a student of Dr. Ananda Shankar Jayant.
She runs a voluntary organization called Art Can Happen Anywhere (ACHA) along
with Dr. Srinivas Chilakamarri,
a Reader in theater from Utkal University,
Bhubaneswar. They organize sessions on theater and art in general and
work with school children to connect with the youngsters.
Sulagna Mukhopadhyay was
trained in Bharatanatyam by Guru Thankamani Kutty and Indian
folk by Late Botu Pal. She has an M.A. in
Comparative Literature and has freelanced for
various leading newspapers of Kolkata like The Telegraph, The Statesman and Ananda Bazar Patrika. She has
written articles on dance and gender issues. She is a teacher of South Point
School since 1996.
Dr. Sunil Kothari is a
dance historian, scholar, author and a renowned dance critic. He is Vice
President of World Dance Alliance Asia Pacific India chapter, based in New
Delhi. He is honored by the President of India with Padma Shri,
Sangeet Natak Akademi award and Senior Critic Award from Dance Critics
Association, NYC. He is a regular contributor to www.narthaki.com, the roving
critic for monthly magazine Sruti and is a
contributing editor of Nartanam for the past 12
years. Sushma Mohan is a Bharatanatyam
dancer and Carnatic vocalist. She resides in Los Angeles and imparts dance
and music training to a handful of dance enthusiasts.
Supriya Rajan is a disciple
of Dr. Neena Prasad and is an administrator of the
online Mohiniattam forum Lasyatarangini.
Tapati Chowdurie
learnt dance for almost 10 years from Guru Gopinath
in his dance institution Natana Niketan
in Madras. For a brief period, she was with International Centre for Kathakali in New Delhi. Tapati
has a Master's degree in English Literature and Bachelor's degree in
Education. Presently, she is a freelance writer on the performing arts.
Usha Raghavan, Director, Kalasagara UK, hails from Chennai. She learned Bharatanatyam under eminent gurus Adyar
Lakshman and Kalanidhi
Narayanan. A postgraduate in Indian Philosophy, Usha
is a dancer, choreographer and teacher currently residing in London.
Usha RK is a writer and Arts Consultant.
Vaibhav Arekar is a Bharatanatyam dancer who runs his own school Sankhya Dance Creations in Mumbai.
Verushka Pather is a Bharatanatyam dancer based in South Africa.
Veejay Sai is a
writer, editor and a culture critic.
Veena Murthy Vijay is a senior Kuchipudi dancer and director of Sri Raja Rajeshwari Kala Niketan in
Bangalore.
Vidya Chandra Sekhar,
commonly known as Diya, is a 2-time world record
holder for longest Bharatanatyam performance (24
and 48 hours), having studied under the legendary Guru TK Mahalingam
Pillai, his father, the celebrated Thiruvadamaradur Kuppiah Pillai, and the other equally renowned teachers of Sri Rajarajeshwari Bharata Natya Kala Mandir. She is the
daughter / disciple of Sudha (Doraiswamy)
Chandra Sekhar. Diya
teaches Bharatanatyam live and online for advanced
performers and teachers, in addition to performing nattuvangam
and vocals for the Vidyanjali Orchestra which
supports dancers across North America.
Vijay Shankar is a Kuchipudi and Kathakali exponent, teacher, bilingual journalist, arts
critic and actor.
Dr. Wahengbam Ibomcha
Singh is a National Executive, Spic Macay.
Articles
Madhuri Upadhya
of contemporary dance group Nritarutya based in Bangalore, describes the journey to choreographing her new
work ‘Trishanku.’
Nandini Krishna is a Bharatanatyam
artiste, dance educator, freelance journalist and Arts administrator based in
Mumbai. ‘Nritya Uphaar-
The Gift of Dance’ is conceived and executed by her.
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Purnima Gururaj is a Bharatanatyam dancer/teacher based in Bangalore. (old)
Sudha Sridhar is a Kuchipudi
artiste and runs her own dance school Nartana
Academy of Performing Arts in Bangalore.
Old removed
Hareesh N Nampoothiri
is a visual design consultant by profession and a lover of classical art forms.
Being an ardent follower of Kathakali, he
conceptualized and directed a documentary on Kathakali
titled 'Thouryathrikam,' which introduces the
nuances of Kathakali to the common man. Writing and
photography are his other passions.
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