Abhinaya Dance Company - Bharatanatyam Group Recital

Drive East 2018 present Bharatanatyam Group Recital by Abhinaya Dance Company on Aug 26th at 2 PM. DRIVE EAST: Drive East (driveeastnyc.org) is an expansive Indian dance and music festival that features 30+ concerts in just two week. In its sixth year, our week long festival will be in New York from August 13 - 19 and San Francisco from August 22 - 26. It is a festival that regularly features some of the best artists of the year from all over the globe(last year The New York Times mentioned two Drive East artists as the top 10 of 2017) and is an immersive experience into the world of Indian classical arts. Whether you are a seasoned patron or interested in learning more, there is an experience for everyone in this extraordinary festival. The Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose was founded by its Artistic Director, Mythili Kumar in 1980, to present innovative and professional quality performances of South Indian classical dance forms. Since 1986, Abhinaya has staged several full-length dance dramas and has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation, California Arts Council, and City of San Jose, for its collaborations with musicians, Kathak and modern dance companies, Japanese Taiko drummers, and a Balinese ensemble. Rasika Kumar, Principal Dancer and Choreographer Rasika is an accomplished Bharatanatyam performer and choreographer, steeped in tradition but with contemporary sensibilities. Rasika learned Bharatanatyam from her mother Mythili Kumar and continued her training under several renowned teachers including Prof. C.V. Chandrasekar and Padmabhushan Smt. Kalanidhi Narayanan in India. Since 2005 Rasika has been a featured soloist, principal dancer, and choreographer for many of Abhinaya Dance Company’s season concerts. She received the Arts Council/Silicon Valley Performing Arts Fellowship in 2008, when she began exploring new ways to make Bharatanatyam more accessible to contemporary audiences. Anjana Dasu, Senior Company Dancer and Choreographer Anjana has been learning Bharatanatyam under Mythili Kumar for over ten years and performed her Arangetram in 2005. Since then and all through her undergraduate years, she has performed in several Abhinaya productions and toured with the company to several venues all over the USA. Additionally she has danced with the company at the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival in 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2011. Critics have praised her as “exquisite” and “a nuanced dancer with a glowing stage presence.” She was awarded the first prize in the Papanasam Sivan competition held in 2008. Anu Iyer, Company Dancer Anu has been learning Bharatanatyam from Smt. Mythili Kumar since the age of five and performed her Arangetram in 2003. She has performed in many of Abhinaya Dance Company’s productions and has also toured with the company. Anu’s role as Shiva in Jnana Ganga, a fundraiser for Chinmaya Mission’s New Building Project, received acclaim from the Bay Area community. During her undergraduate years at UC Davis, Anu founded the Bharatanatyam dance group, Apsaras, and choreographed classical/fusion pieces for the annual South Asian Student Organization’s cultural shows from 2006-2008. Drive East 2018 Featuring: Arushi Mudgal (odissi), Shijith N Parvathy (Bharatanatyam), Shruthi Kezhakepuram Purushotham (Mohiniyattam), Dr. Anwesa Mahanta (Sattriya), Mesma S. Belsare (Bharatanatyam), Sujit Vaidya and group (Contemporary), Kiran Rajagopalan (Contemporary), Navatman Dance (Bharatanatyam), Anuj Mishra and group (Kathak), Sandip Mallick and Group (Kathak), Preeti and Piyush (Kathak), Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose (Bharatanatyam), Prabal Gupta (Kathakali), Dr. Ragunath Manet, Nehaa Mondal Chakravarty (Bharatanatyam), Bhavana Reddy (Kuchipudi), Alam Khan (Sarode), Vishal Vaid (Ghazals), Vinay Desai (Santoor), Navatman Music Collective (Carnatic Vocal Choir), Nirmala Rajasekar and Group (Saraswati Veena), Flute Raman Trio, Pt. Rattan Mohan Sharma