People of Natya Mandala
Smita Krishnaswamy
Smita is the Artistic Director at Natyamandala. Smita is trained primarily by Induvadana Malli (daughter of Adyar K Lakshman) in the Kalakshetra style. Smita has danced for over 25 years and her repertoire includes a wide variety of pieces including traditional margam pieces as well as modern choreographies. Smita has performed in Michigan, New York, Connecticut as well as India. Smita also choreographs and teaches dance. Smita is also a mom to 3 kids and an Assistant Professor in the department of Genetics and computer science.
Reena Dash
Reena is a trained dancer in the alternative classical dance form of Odissi, from the northeastern Indian state of Odisha. She was trained by Surendar Mohapatra and recently moved to New Haven
Poornima,
The
Inceptor - Sishya
A great dancer once said, ‘To live is to be musical, starting with the blood dancing in your veins’ and that is true of every living soul. Poornima was no exception to this fact. Even at a very young age she was very creative and athletic. It was only a matter of time she made her way into a dance form. It was only apt that she chose Bharathanatyam given her creativity, her passion for art and her discipline. She started her first steps into Bharathanatyam in Vazhuvoor Ramaiyya Pillai style at an early age of 10 and has been dancing ever since with her passion increasing every year.
“... it’s not often that one can get really close to one’s inner self. I feel like I can connect with myself better through dance...”
Poornima’s interest and passion was well guided and moulded by her teachers Shri. Vivekanandha Bhaskar and Smt. Bhavani Bhaskar. Their guidance and her diligent training for the past 13 years has paved way for performing in various stages in India and the US. “Vaidhegi Rama Sugandham”, a thematic varnam presentation in her arangetram depicted the Indian Epic Ramayanam through nritta, nritya and natya. She enjoys performing varnams about mahabharatham, dasavatharam, stories of Lord Venkateshwara and Lord Raghavendra. She loves choreographing Bharathanatyam for different genres of music. Some of her much appreciated performances are for Shape of you, IndianRaga Swalla Jathi mix and EDM thillana. The practice and experience in Bharathanatyam makes her adept in other Indian classical dance forms like kathak, mohiniattam and odissi. She also likes performing Indian folk and Bollywood dance styles once in a while.
Monika Jadi
& Gargi Nandy
Monika Jadi & Gargi Nandy have been training in Kathak for the past 8 years under the aegis of the Shambhavi International School of Kathak, previously with Guru Meenal Chakradeo of San Diego and now with Guru Shruti Apte of Pune, India. Monika Jadi is an Assistance Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at the Yale Medical School and her laboratory investigates computations in individual neurons and their networks in the brain. Gargi Nandy is a junior at the local Amity Regional High School.
Jayameenakshi
Venkataraman
Jaya grew up in the city of Bangalore, India where she has been trained in the classical dance form of Bharatanatyam from Kalamandalam Sree Jaya. She has performed in shows in Bangalore including her arangetram in 2009. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Physics at Yale University in quantum information. She has also been trained in Indian classical music (Carnatic) from Dr. Muralidhar Kanchi and is deeply passionate about Indian classical music and dance.
Aditi Balasubramanian
Aditi has been dancing ever since she was 3 years old and started learning Bharatanatyam from various teachers from the age of 5. She has trained with Guru Ramya Ramnarayan of Vazhuvoor style in New Jersey. She’s also learned dance under Guru Balagurunathan of the Kalakshetra style when she lived in Singapore for 3 years. After returning to New Jersey, she continued her dance training with Guru Chitra Ramaswamy of the Kalakshetra style. I have been affiliated with her academy, Sanskriti School of Dance since 2008.
She completed her Arangetram with Guru Chitra Ramaswamy back in 2012 and has performed at many events with her in the tri-state area. She also has many years of experience dancing and teaching/choreographing Bollywood dance at the Satrangi School of Fusion located in New Jersey. During her undergraduate years at Smith College in Massachusetts, she was a member and captain of a fusion dance team called SC Masti (they incorporated all styles of dance - hip hop, classical Indian, contemporary, Bhangra, etc.) and her team performed at various events around Western Massachusetts.
Benjamin Diessel,
Dance Enthusiast
Ben is an Attorney at Law practicing at Wiggin and Dana LLP in New Haven. Ben is responsible for publicizing and organizing dance events with Smita during off-work hours. He's very interested in Indian culture, a dance enthusiast, and has been involved in Natya Mandala community at Yale. He enjoys bringing people together from across the Greater New Haven Area to learn about and experience the joy of Indian dance. Ben is a father of three.
Induvadana Malli
Smt. Induvadana (Bharathanatyam Exponent/Artistic Director- Bharatha Choodmanai Academy of Fine Arts, chennai) Induvadana, an exponent of Bharatha Natyam was fortunate to be born in a family of highly accomplished artistes. It is not surprising that she inherited her love for dance and music since her childhood, which blossomed in a highly creative and artistic environment. She is the daughter of Guru Padmashri.Adyar K. Lakshman a highly acclaimed dance guru, choreographer, Nattuvanar, composer and director of the internationally recognized institute of fine arts"Bharatha Choodamani". Trained rigorously in both Bharatha Natyam and Nattuvangam her thorough foundation is revealed through well-executed rhythmic patterns in scintillating nritta and highly emotive and sensitive abhinaya. She has also been closely associated with her uncle Shri K Rama Rao and her aunty Smt Nagamani Srinivasa Rao, both well-known dance gurus and her uncle Shri K Gopinath who is an acclaimed mridangam player. She has performed in various dance programmes organized by Bharatha Choodamani and various cultural organizations in India and abroad.
Apart from her dancing career she also teaches Bharathanatyam and Nattuvangam andconducts Bharathanatyam recitals to her students in the Kalakshetra Style of Bharatha Natyam, which is characterized by traditional purity, grace and vigor and also Nattuvangam Smt. Induvadana (Bharathanatyam Exponent/Artistic Director- Bharatha Choodmanai Academy of Fine Arts, chennai) Induvadana, an exponent of Bharatha Natyam was fortunate to be born in a family of highly accomplished artistes. It is not surprising that she inherited her love for dance and music since her childhood, which blossomed in a highly creative and artistic environment. She is the daughter of Guru Padmashri.Adyar K. Lakshman a highly acclaimed dance guru, choreographer, Nattuvanar, composer and director of the internationally recognized institute of fine arts"Bharatha Choodamani" Trained rigorously in both Bharatha Natyam and Nattuvangam her thorough foundation is revealed through well-executed rhythmic patterns in scintillating nritta and highly emotive and sensitive abhinaya. She has also been closely associated with her uncle Shri K Rama Rao and her aunty Smt Nagamani Srinivasa Rao, both well-known dance gurus and her uncle Shri K Gopinath who is an acclaimed mridangam player. She has performed in various dance programmes organized by Bharatha Choodamani and various cultural organizations in India and abroad. Apart from her dancing career she also teaches Bharathanatyam and Nattuvangam and conducts Bharathanatyam recitals to her students in the Kalakshetra Style of Bharatha Natyam, which is characterized by traditional purity, grace and vigor and also Nattuvangam