DANCE

Sunanda's Performing Arts presents Narthaki, Saturday, March 12, 2011 , at 6:30pm, at the Jewish Community Center, 5601 S Braeswood. A classical dance festival, of amateur to very well known professional dancers.

Sunanda's Performing Arts presents NARTHAKI featuring Bharatanatyam dancers Janaki Rangarajan, Shriya Srinivasan, Anwesha Das and Odissi dancer Niharika Mohanty.

Niharika Mohanty from California is a leading Odissi dancer in North America and is a senior disciple of the legendary late Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, the founding-father of Odissi dance. She continues to refine her dance under his gifted and renowned son and daughter-in-law, Guru Ratikant and Sujata Mohapatra. She has performed internationally as a soloist. Niharika also possesses an MA in Dance and is the recipient of several grants and awards. She is the Director of Guru Shradha, an institution dedicated to continuing her Guru's dance tradition in this part of the world.

Dr. Janaki Rangarajan is a Bharatanatyam dancer and a senior disciple of Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam. Janaki has been dancing since the age of four and has performed in the U.S., Canada, India and Thailand. She is an empanelled artist of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and the Arts Council of Fairfax County. In 2010, Janaki was awarded the Strauss Fellowship for Choreography and was selected to perform at the D.C. Host Committee Showcase during the Dance/USA conference in Washington, D.C. Also in 2010, Janaki was a finalist in the "outstanding individual performance" and "emerging choreographer" categories of the Metro DC Dance Awards. For the past seven years, Janaki has pursued her professional dance career while devoting time and energy to develop her classical Indian dance and music school Nrityaniketan in Virginia.

Anwesha Das - A student of Urmila Sathyanarayanan, Anwesha has been learning Bharatanatyam for over 15 years. She has been performing since her Arangetram in March 2000. Anwesha has been credited with several prestigious awards from leading Indian cultural organizations including the "Yuva Kala Bharati" from Bharat Kalachar and "Natya Chudar" from Kartik Fine Arts. In the recently held Cleveland AradhanaThyagaraja, she was adjudged best dancer in the senior category and also awarded for the best performance across 40 dancers. She is a graded artiste of the Doordarshan. Anwesha is passionate about pursuing her dance career in the US, India and globally. Her goal is to share the richness of Indian culture and heritage through her love for Bharatanatyam.

Shriya Srinivasan - Shriya, a multifaceted teenager, began learning Bharathanatyam from her mother Sujatha Srinivasan from the age of five. Shriya had her arangetram in 2008. Winner of the first prize at the 2009 Cleveland Aradhana Bharatanatyam competition, Shriya has danced several roles in dance dramas such as PibareKrishnarasam, Shadripu, Andal, and Minstrels of God and participated in several community cultural events, diversity shows and fund raisers in and around Cleveland. Shriya was acclaimed for her solo performances in St. Louis, Rochester, SV Temple, Pittsburgh and Chennai, India.

Shriya pursues Carnatic music under Madurai R. Sundar of Detroit and has bagged several prizes at the Thyagaraja Aradhana, Cleveland and India. Shriya is a junior at the Strongsville High School and an all honors student. She passionately pursues violin and is a member of her school's Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. Shriya is also an active member of National Honors Society and Spanish Honors Society.

Sunanda Nair - Dancer, choreographer and teacher in Mohiniattam, Bharatanatyam and Kathakali, Sunanda Nair has made her mark at both the national and international levels. She started learning dance at the age of six, and was the first student to earn Master's degree in dance (Mohiniattam) from the University of Mumbai. After obtaining a certain degree of proficiency in Bharatanatyam, she joined Nalanda Nritya Kala Mahavidyalaya in Mumbai, for specialized course in Mohiniattam. Sunanda received her basic training under the tutelage of Kalamandalam Krishnan Kutty Warrier. Later she learnt from great Gurus of Bharatanatyam- Kadirvelu, Mahalingam Pillai, Deepak Mazumdar and Tejaswini Raj. She also had the opportunity to learn under The Dhananjayans, Chennai and is under the guidance of Prof C V Chandrasekhar, Chennai.

Sunanda, takes great pride in the fact that she is the only Indian classical dancer from USA to perform at the world famous Carnegie Hall, New York along with her senior students. She received international recognition as a dancer while she was still in high school. She is on the panel of ICCR, New Delhi and is an "A" graded artiste of Indian National television. On relocation to the USA, she started her dance institution, Sunanda's Performing Arts Centre (SPARC) in New Orleans, Louisiana. After hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, she moved her base to Houston in Texas.

At SPARC, Sunanda imparts lessons in Bharatanatyam, Mohiniattam and Kathakali. During the last 10 years, she and her students have performed at various stages in USA and her students have won innumerable awards and recognitions for their performances. SPARC is not just designed as a dance school but as an institute that imparts comprehensive arts education.

"Narthaki" is a step towards introducing the arts in its purest form.