Lasya Dance Company - Company Dancers

ANURADHA PRABHASHANKER

Anuradha has learnt Bharatanatyam since she was 7 years old from Lalitha Srinivasan of Nupura School of Bharatanatyam in Bangalore. She took part in a number of dance productions of Nupura while in high school. Anuradha continued to pursue her deep interest in dance after coming to the US for her education in Electrical Engineering. At the University of Pennsylvania, she studied Mime & Movement, participating in an annual production and gave classes in Bharatanatyam to undergraduate students.

Since moving to the Bay Area in 1994, she has been under the tutelage of Vidhya Subramanian and has participated in presentations of the Lasya Dance Company. In 1998, she was a featured soloist in the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival and performed at the Stern Grove Festival. Anuradha would like to continue her goals of imbibing and imparting the sacred art of Indian classical dance. A keen student of Yoga, she wants to integrate Yoga and Dance with her religious goals in ways to complement and enhance each other.

KANCHANA VENKAT

Kanchana began learning dance at the age of 5 with the Indian Fine Arts Society of Singapore. She did her arangetram at the age of 9 under the tutelage of Sri Narasimhachari. She then pursued her dance with Shanta Bhasker of the Nrithyalaya, Singapore. Under her guidance, Kanchana has taken part in many cultural events and the prestigious art festivals in Singapore.

Kanchana came to the Bay Area in 1991. Between raising a family and working she continued pursuing Bharatanatyam under the tutelage of Mythili Kumar, Abhinaya Dance Company, San Jose.

Since 1994, she has been learning under Vidhya Subramanian of the Lasya Dance Company.

MADHAVI CHERUVU

Madhavi has been learning Bharatanatyam since 1992 under the tutelage of Vidhya Subramanian. She has participated in the Ethnic Dance Festival 1997, Gandhi Mela, FIA competition where Madhavi and her colleagues won second place, and in Lasya Dance Company’s most recent production ‘Shakuntalam’. Madhavi gave a one hour solo performance in India in 1998. On several occasions, Madhavi has also performed in the bay area temples, such as Livermore, Concord, and Sunnyvale.

Aside from dance, Madhavi has been learning Carnatic music (vocal) from Jayashree Varadarajan since the tender age of 4. Her hobbies include playing soccer and volunteering at Kaiser Hospital. Madhavi is a sophomore at Monta Vista High, where she is an active member of the California Scholarship Federation Club, and the speech and debate club.

KAVITA RADHAKRISHNAN

Kavita began studying the art of Bharatanatyam in the Vazhuvoor style under Vidhya Subramanian, artistic director of the Lasya Dance Company, in 1992. She performed her dance debut or Arangetram in August 1999. As part of the training in Lasya Dance Company, she has participated in several dance performances of the school in events such as the NASA Ames Multicultural Festival, San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, Stern Grove Festival and the Bay Area Temple functions. She participated in Lasya’s full-length dance dramas, Kalidasa’s Abhignana Shakuntalam in March 1999 and Silappadikaram in February 2001. Following her arangetram in August 1999, Kavita was selected by the World Arts West to perform as a soloist in the prestigious Ethnic dance festival of San Francisco in the summer of 2000.

Kavita is a junior at Mission San Jose High School in Fremont. She has been an active participant in the Fremont Youth Soccer League for the past 9 years, and has been recognized for her talent at the city and district levels. She has been learning Carnatic music from Jayashree Varadarajan of Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandir since she was four years old. The training in music has been complimentary to her pursuit of Bharatanatyam. She also enjoys reading, running, and basketball.

SUMANA SRINIVASAN

Sumana was initiated into Bharatanatyam at the age of 10, under the guidance of Sri H.R. Keshava Murthy, of Keshava Nrithya Shala in Bangalore. She took part in a number of group productions of the school. After undergoing training for about three years, she quit dancing in order to pursue academic interests. However, there was always a burning desire to continue dancing and she waited for the appropriate opportunity where she could involve herself more deeply.

After coming to the USA to pursue her Masters in Computer Engineering at Syracuse University, she was fortunate enough to witness a performance of her Guru Vidhya Subramanian with Sri Swamimalai Rajarathnam on the Nattuvangam in 1991. She was completely taken in by her performance and pledged to herself that if ever she would dance again, it would be only under the guidance of Vidhya Subramanian as her guru. Sumana performed her arangetram in March of 2000. She has participated in various festivals in and around the bay area. She has performed at Sunnyvale, Livermore and Concord temples. She has also participated in Lasya Dance Company's group productions - Suthradhara in Shakuntalam , March 1999 and Kovalan in Silappadikaram, February 2001.

NANDITA SRIRAM

Nandita has been learning dance from Vidhya Subramanian since 1992. She has taken part in many of the Lasya Dance Company performances, including at the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival in 1998, the Festival of India in Fremont in 1995, and in temple performances in Livermore and Concord. She performed her full length solo debut or Arangetram on August 18th, 2001. She has been a part of the Company's full length dance dramas, Shakuntalam, in 1999, and Silappadikaram, in 2001. She has given short solo performances in Memphis, Tennessee, and in Toronto, Canada. She has won first place in Tamil Manram and Indo-American Cultural Service Center competitions.

Nandita has been learning vocal South Indian Carnatic Classical music from Jayashree Varadarajan for the past 8 years as well. She has sung in Memphis, Toronto, in the Thyagaraja festivals here, in various productions of the Sri Rama Performing Arts, and in many Tamil Manram programs. Additionally, she has been learning Western Classical Violin from Lesa Longay-Zuehlke. She gave a solo violin performance in 2000; she has participated in a violin tour of Hawaii with her studio in 1997, and she was selected for the Panel Honors Recital at the Music Teachers Association of California Convention this past July. She plays violin with the San Jose Symphony Youth Orchestra. Nandita has been going to the Chinmaya Mission Bal Vihar from the age of five, and won a National Gita Chanting Contest last year.

She has been a straight A student at Challenger School, San Jose; she has won Spelling Bees and Speech contests, and is a member of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth program. In addition to music and dance, she is interested in reading, basketball, tennis and hockey. Nandita will begin her freshman year at Leland High School this fall.

ANURADHA SIVARAM

Anuradha has been learning Bharatanatyam from Guru Vidhya Subramanian from the young age of five. Anuradha has been an active participant in many Lasya performances. She has performed several times at the Concord and Livermore temples, as well as the FIA mela, the NASA Ames Multicultural Festival, the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival of 1998, and other venues. Anuradha has had multiple roles in Lasya’s two full-length classical drama productions, Shakuntalam (1999), and Silappadikaram (2001) and performed in multiple pieces in Dasaka Natya Samaroh (2002). Anuradha performed her Arangetram, or solo dance debut, on August 24, 2002.

Apart from dance, Anuradha learns Carnatic music from Guru Asha Ramesh. She has also been attending Chinmaya Mission Bala Vihar and Tamil Classes since age 5. Anuradha also attends Gita Chanting instruction classes at the Chinmaya Mission Bala Vihar, and has received third place in the intra-class chanting competition. She is also a volunteer teacher aide for junior Bala Vihar classes. Anuradha will be a sophomore at Lynbrook High School this fall, where she is an active member of the Speech and Debate Club. She also volunteers for her school’s service clubs. Anuradha’s hobbies include arts and crafts, reading, and swimming.

DEEPA SRIKANTH

Bharatanatyam has consistently been an integral part of Deepa'slife. She began learning the art in the Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai style at the young age of 8 from her mother Karnataka Kalashree Guru Smt. Revathi Narasimhan at Natya Niketan, Bangalore. Deepa performed her Arangetram in 1994 and in 1996 passed the proficiency examination conducted by the Government of Karnataka (Vidwath) with honors. Upon moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, she continued her studies under the tutelage of Guru Smt. Vidhya Subramanian at Lasya Dance Company.

Deepa has performed solo at various venues in India including Pallava Utsava at the Mysore Palace and is a graded television artist at Doordarshan, Bangalore. She has also participated in several Natya Niketan dance productions including the Bharatanatyam Festival held by Sangeet Natak Academy, New Delhi. In the U.S., she has taken part in the 10th Anniversary celebrations of Lasya Dance Company. Deepa holds a Master's degree in Computer Science and hopes to continue making Bharatanatyam a way of life by learning, performing and teaching this timeless art.

JANANI NARAYANAN

Janani Narayanan was encouraged by her parents to learn Bharathanatyam from the age of six. After initially learning under Padmini Ravi she continued learning under the popular dancer couple " The Kirans"- Kiran Subramaniyam and Sandhya Kiran directors of "Rasika Academy of Performing Arts" ,Bangalore. Janani did her Arangetram under their guidance in Dec 2000. She has taken part in their productions such as Nrityarpana 1999 "Yathra" and "Layam Lasyam".

At present in the Bay area, she is pursuing her dance career under the guidance of Smt. Vidhya Subramanian, at Lasya Dance Company. She also teaches there. She participated in Lasya's 10th anniversary celebration. She wishes to continue learning, teaching and performing Bharathanatyam as her full time career. She also performs folk dances such as Karagam, Lavani and Bihu. She recently performed Karagam in the Tamil Intenet Conference -2002.

Janani holds a Bachelor's Degree in Microbiology. Her hobbies include painting, acting and singing. She recently acted in Naatak's tamil production "Kaasu Mela Kaasu".

KAVITA THIRUMALAI

Kavita has been a keen and ardent student of Bharatanatyam ever since she was initiated into the art at the age of eleven. She has had the privilege and pleasure of having several well-known gurus in the past. They include Meera Chandrashekar (Nagpur, India), Ramya Ramnarayan (Dayton, New Jersey), Dr. Hema Govindarajan (Bangalore, India), and Vidhya Subramanian (Cupertino, CA). She has also had brief but memorable experiences with Smt. Kalanidhi Narayanan and Poornima Ashok.

She has performed in several dance-dramas, group performances and has given solo performances both in India and New Jersey. Her performance under the auspices of Yavanika in Bangalore in 1997 was well received. She has also given performances for the Shiva-Vishnu Hindu Temple in Bridgewater, NJ, and Ranganatha Temple, NY. Kavita participated in the recently concluded Lasya's 10th anniversary celebration.

She hopes to continue her interests and passion for this art form in California. Kavita works as an Epidemiologist for the Santa Clara County Public Health Department and lives in the bay area with her husband, Krishna and daughter, Meera.

ADEETI ULLAL

Adeeti is a sixteen year old senior at Saratoga High School. She has been learning Bharatanaytam for the past eleven years under the tutelage of Guru Vidhya Subramanian. She has performed in Lasya Dance Company’s many productions such as Shakuntalam (1999), Silappadikaram (2001), and Dasaka Natya Samaroh (2002). Adeeti has also performed at various temples and schools. This summer she attended a special workshop by leading abhinaya maestro Smt. Kalanidhi Narayanan.

Besides her love for dance, Adeeti also learns Hindustani Classical vocal music from her teacher Vasumati Ranganathan. Adeeti’s other musical pursuit is piano, which she has been learning for many years from her teacher Marina Dologonsov. She enjoys playing tennis, always looking to improve with the help of her coach, Matt Woolridge and encouragement from her dad. She plays varsity tennis for her school team. Off the court, Adeeti’s favorite hang-out is the Journalism Room, where she is the Associate Editor of her school’s newspaper, The Falcon.

RAMYA PARTHASARATHY

Ramya has been learning Bharatanatyam from Smt. Vidhya Subramanian since 1998. She has taken part in all of Lasya’s productions, from Shakuntalam (1999) and Silappadikaram (2001), to Dasaka Natya Samaroh (2002) and Bharathi in Bharatam (2003); she has performed at other venues, such as the Concord temple, as well.

Aside from dance, Ramya also learns veena from Sri Srikanth Chary of the Nada Nidhi School of Music. In addition, Ramya pursues other artistic endeavors – including sketching and graphic design.

Ramya is currently a junior at Saint Francis High School in Mountain View where she is a senior editor on the school newspaper and an active member of both the Mock Trial and Speech and Debate teams.

CHETHANA CHIDAMBARA

Classical music and dance have consistently been an integral part of Chethana’s life. She began learning Bharathanatyam at the age of 8. She has learnt from eminent gurus Smt. Bhanumathy, Smt. Alakananda and Smt Radha Sridhar from Bangalore. She continues to study this art from Guru Vidhya Subramanian. She has performed in many dance productions in Inida. She has taken part in Lasya’s production ‘Bharathi in Bharatham. As a part of Lasya, she has performed in Festival of India at the ISKCON temple in Utah, the San Francisco ethnic dance festival, 25th anniversary of SIFA at San Jose, at Shiva Muruga temple in Concord, CA and Sunnyvlae temple, CA. She performed her Arangetram on October 10th, 2004, under the guidance of Guru Vidhya Subramanian in Palo Alto, CA.

Chethana also is a trained classical musician. She started learning Carnatic music at a young age of 5 from Guru Smt. Kamala Dattatreya and continued under the guidance of Vidhushi Vasantha Madhavi in Bangalore. She passed the senior music examination conducted by Government of Karnataka with honors. She is trained at the proficiency level and has given several music concerts in Bangalore. Chethana holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering and she works as a Software consultant in the Bay area.

RADHIKA CHANDRASHEKAR

Radhika, 15, has been learning Bharatanatyam from Guru Vidhya Subramanian from the age of 6. She has participated in all of Lasya’s productions, including ‘Shakuntalam’ (1999), ‘Silappadikaram’ (2001), ‘Dasaka Natya Samaroh’ (2002), ‘Bharathiin Bharatam’ (2003), and ‘Living Sculptures’ (2005), as well in the SIFA 25 celebration, events at the Concord Temple, and other venues.

Radhika is a junior at Monta Vista High School. Aside from dance, she has also learned Carnatic vocal music for the past 11 years. For the past 6 years, she has been fortunate to learn vocal music from Smt. Neela Ramgopal who lives in Bangalore, India. She has played soccer for both the CYSA league and for her high school, winning awards such as Most Valuable Offensive Player. Radhika is an active member in clubs at her school such as Speech and Debate, California Scholarship Federation, and IASA (the Indian club) as a member of the school Bhangra team. Also, Radhika is a section editor on both the yearbook and journalism staffs this year.

VINIDHRA MANI

Vinidhra has been learning Bharatanatyam under the tutelage of Guru Smt.Vidhya Subramanian since January 1996. She has participated in all of Lasya’s productions from ‘Shakuntalam’ in 1999 to the most recent, ‘Living Sculptures’ in March 2005. She has performed at various other venues, including SIFA’s 25th anniversary celebrations and Concord Temple. In summer of 2004 she had rigorous training with A. Lakshman in Chennai for 3 weeks. She also attended Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam’s dance workshop in May 2005. Vinidhra did her arangetram on November 5th, 2005..

Aside from dance, Vinidhra has been learning Carnatic music from Smt. Jayashree Varadarajan since the age of four. This has been complimentary to her dance education. She has also been attending Chinmaya Mission BalaVihar classes since the age of 8. She has been among the top scorers for Johns Hopkins CTY Talent Search. Currently a sophomore at Monta Vista High School, Vinidhra is active in many of the school’s activities. She is a Vice President for FBLA and is also an active member of Speech and Debate. She does volunteer work with the California Scholarship Federation and is part of the yearbook staff at her school. Her other interests include socializing, traveling, and sports..