DEVOTION & DESIRE

CELEBRATING THE BLUE LORD

JULY 30th, 2022 | SATURDAY

6:30 PM | NY LIVE ARTS

Celebrating the Blue Lord | in conjunction with Krishna Janmashtami

We all experience love in many different ways, there is the most common love that occurs between romantic partners, then there is love for friends and family, and there is also love for oneself. During this time of the year in India, love is celebrated widely in connection with The Blue Lord Krishna. 

It was said that, “The essence of the early part of Krishna’s life was that he turned a whole community blissfully mad about him. With his very enchanting looks, his inimitable smile, his flute, and the dance in his step, he drove people into a new kind of frenzy that they had never known before”, with Janmashtami around the corner, we want to experience that essence and frenzy in a night of Devotion and Desire.

We dancers dance in different styles but we all sing HIS name, be it, Madhava, Keshava, Mukuntha or Kanna.

Anjali Lai has been immersed in bharata natyam since age six. After training with gurus in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and performing throughout childhood and university, Anjali moved to New York City where she is currently exploring the art more deeply under the guidance of Sri Thina Subramaniam and Sahasra Sambhamoorthi. Anjali has also learned ballet and holds a diploma from the Royal Academy of Dance.

Anjali Lai

Aparna Shankar trained in the Vazhaoor style of bharatanatyam under Smt. Ramya Ramnarayan in NJ for 11 years. During that time, she participated in many productions as a member of the Nrithyanjali Dance Ensemble including “Shyama” at the New York International Fringe Festival. As an undergraduate student, Aparna danced in and contributed choreography to multiple award-winning pieces as a dancer and captain of Rutgers University Natya. Aparna was a part of Navatman Dance Company from 2017-2021 and performed at two Drive East festivals, played the role of Lakshmana and Karna in Navatman's Ramayana and Mahabharata productions. As a freelance artist, Aparna performed as an ensemble member of The Affair, (based on the Gita Govindam) and presented a full lenght solo work titled Bhoomi Magal (Earth’s Child) Most recently, she collaborated with Meghana Murthy and Uditha Thiagarajan to choreograph a thillana which was presented at Enjoy: An Evening of Eastern Dance.

Aparna Shankar

Kuhokee Das

Kuhokee Kumari Das, disciple of Guru Gargi Chattopadhyay, has trained in Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi since the age of six, completing her Bharatanatyam arrangetram and Kuchipudi rangapravesham in 2011. She has performed in prestigious platforms such as the United Nations General Assembly, Lincoln Center, as well as the nation’s top universities. Kuhokee is completing her Master’s degree in Biology at Queens College, where she also teaches Anatomy & Physiology. She is a published clinical researcher at New York Presbyterian-Queens. In 2019, Kuhokee was awarded a New York City Council Citation for her contribution in Indian classical dance.

Meghana Murthy began her dance career at the age of 5 training under her first Guru, Smt. Vidhya Subramanian. She trained for 13 years in Vazhuvoor, performing in 5 stage productions and completing her Arangetram in 2009. Since graduating college, Meg continued pursuing Bharatanatyam performing across the NYC area including at Lincoln Center twice, Symphony Space, NYP Library and Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning. Most recently, Meg took her dance training to the big screen as lead actor in the short film BEAST.

Meghana Murthy

Mitali Sonar, an Indian dancer & collaborative artist in New York, graduated with a M.A. in Performing Arts Administration from NYU Steinhardt and works as the Marketing Manager at BRIC Brooklyn. Mitali received formal Kathak training under Guru Rajendra Chaturvedi and holds a Visharad degree. She also had the opportunity to train under Guru Prashant Shah in the US. Mitali coupled her Kathak training with sutradhari theater, Bollywood dance, contemporary dance and kalaripayattu. She has performed at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, NCPA Mumbai, Martha Graham Dance Center & Jamaica Arts Festival amongst other prestigious stages.

Mitali Sonar

Prana & Abhinaya Nagar

Prana and Abhinaya Nagar are sisters who are 10 and 8 years old, respectively. They have been learning bharatanatyam at Noor Dance Academy since 2019 and are members of the Noor Jr. Company. They are highly creative and enjoy coming up with their own original choreographies!

(Students of Shachi Phene)

Shivani Badgi is a New Jersey/New York based dancer who has trained in Kathak, Lavani, Bollywood, Contemporary, and Jazz. In 2017 she opened her dance school, The Gurukul Performing Arts, where she teaches Kathak and Bollywood. She aspires to use traditional techniques and modern perspectives to tell unique stories. As a Maharashtran herself, she hopes to educate audiences on the history and societal impact of the Lavani tradition. 

Shivaani Badgi

Arshia Rasiwala & Maya Shah

Arshia Rasiwala (13) and Maya Shah (12) are senior members of the Noor Jr. Company. Both are active, athletic middle schoolers who work hard to balance their dance aspirations with their academic and extra-curricular goals. Coming out of the pandemic this year, and having learned most of this choreography on Zoom, they have been putting special focus into their technical skills and dancing together as a team!

(Students of Shachi Phene)

Uditha, is a bharatanatyam artiste and an arts administrator based in New York City, currently training under the late Guru Smt. B Bhanumati and Smt. Sheela Chandrasekhar. With an MA in Performing Arts Administration (NYU), she works with arts organizations in events, programming, and marketing and currently works as the Program Manager at Nava Dance Theatre (SF). In the past, she has worked at Broadway theater-owner Jujamcyn Theaters, Martha Graham Dance Company and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, to name a few. She has performed at Symphony Space, LaMama Theatre, Indian Consulate Dubai, Alliance Française amongst other prestigious venues and managed festivals like Drive East and India International Dance Congress.

Uditha Thiagarajan

Recognised for creating work that focuses on two distinct dance styles, Bharatanatyam and Odissi. Her graceful movements and strong expressional presentation has transformed audience from modern-day stages to temples and royal courts. Currently her work gravitates towards examining the influence these two dance styles impose on each other and shedding light on the union and fusion of these styles, an area to be explored.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Dussehra | Vijayadasami | Navarathri

This will be another evening of performances centered around the theme of Goddesses and Women for they are one and the same. They are our mothers and daughters. They are delicate and fierce. They can be dark and yet illuminate the unseen.

The performances will be followed by Garba and Dandia as we evoke our inner goddess and dance into the night! Follow our Instagram for more details and we hope to see you again soon.

We are a group of dancers who came together to share our love for dance with you. If you like what you saw today and would like to see more in the future, please support this cause by donating via the link below.

For upcoming events please visit: https://www.srithina.com/events

Or contact us at:

tfausa.info@gmail.com | (408) 896-2951