$20.00
Friday, March 19
7:00 pm PST | 10:00 pm EDT
(Saturday, March 20, 7:30 am IST)
Performance and Discussion with Sudharani Raghupathy
When Eyes Speak – Indian Choreography Festival 2021
FREE for Annual Members
Friday, March 19
7:00 pm PST
10:00 pm EDT
(Saturday, March 20, 7:30 am IST)
Performance and Discussion with Sudharani Raghupathy
How does one approach improvisation and intense emoting in abhinaya in Bharatanatyam? Prof. Sudharani Raghupathy shares her process in performance and discussion.
A unique and eminent artiste nationally and internationally respected, Prof. Sudharani Raghupathy is lauded as a living legend. Having completed over 70 years of dancing, Raghupathy is perhaps one of the rare Bharatanatyam dancers in India who has danced before visiting dignitaries to India since 1956, including a command performance for Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. An A top artiste of Doordarshan since 1976, her T.V. series Bharatanjali on Bharatanatyam was the first of its kind on the network in 1981 and 1989.
Raghupathy also had the privilege of performing at the Unites Nations Headquarters in New York on Human Rights Day in December 1981 on an invitation from the then Secretary General Kurt Waldheim. She has been awarded the unique honor of Senior Teaching Associate of Indian studies by the Colgate University, New York in December 1995. Raghupathy’s institution of fine arts, Shree Bharatalaya, was founded in 1970, and just celebrated its 50th anniversary.
This institution is perhaps the only one of its kind in the nation that has produced valuable resource material, such as the Laghu Bharatam, a guide on Indian dance. A few of the prestigious awards conferred on Prof. Sudharani Raghupathy include Padma Shri (1988), Central Sangeet Natak Akademi award (1984), Kalaimamani (1981).
Led by an all Female Creative and Executive team, When Eyes Speak is the first Indian Choreography Festival in San Francisco connecting audiences by way of outreach programs, curated festivals, panel discussions, and workshops to the world of Indian dance forms, portraying relevant themes with a unique combination of theater, mythology, and movement.
Featured as a “Critic’s Pick” for the San Francisco Chronicle and supported by organizations such as the San Francisco Arts Commision, American Conservatory for the Arts, SAFEhouse Arts, and Zellerbach Family Foundation, this festival aims to demystify the notion of Indian choreography with a glimpse into the vastness of the Indian diasporic arts.
Preethi Ramaprasad is a multifaceted dancer and musician from the U.S., trained in Bharatanatyam with Prof. Sudharani Raghupathy (Shree Bharatalaya, Chennai) for 24 years. She has toured India, Europe, and the U.S. in solo and ensemble shows with accolades such as “All- Rounder Artist Yuva Kala Bharati”, “Guru Sanjukta Panigrahi Award”, Trinity Arts Festival Award, YoungArts Scholarship from the Oscar-nominated documentary “Rehearsing a Dream,” and the SAFEhouse Arts Lead Residency where she spearheaded the first When Eyes Speak. Passionate about teaching, Preethi has led workshops at venues like Juilliard and Columbia University. She is currently a doctoral student in Critical Dance Studies at UC Riverside.
Sri Thina Subramaniam Bharatanatyam and Odissi dancer from the Temple of Fine Arts, Malaysia. Over the last 20 years she has worked with international choreographers in the field. Some of them include, Mavin Khoo, currently the rehearsal director at Akram Khan Company (UK) and Shobana Jeyasingh known for her enigmatic and dynamic dance work in the UK. She has performed in many venues including the Lincoln Center(USA), Royal Opera House, and Buckingham Palace (UK). Since her move to America in 2016 Sri Thina has curated the San Francisco West Wave Dance Festival, presented her choreography at the Drive East Festival in New York, and worked as stage manager and rehearsal director to many productions. She currently continues to collaborate and create work while also a member of Navatman
Shruti Abhishek a professional Bharatanatyam Dancer from Mumbai, India has gained experience learning from and performing under well-known exponents for the last 20 years. Her initial training was with Smt Rohini Signhi. At Nalanda Nritya Kala Mahavidyalaya, she earned her bachelor’s Degree of Performing Arts. She has trained with renowned academician and dance scholar Shri CV Chandrashekhar in Chennai and is currently training under Shri Vaibhav Arekar in Mumbai. Shruti has performed in prestigious venues like NCPA, IndiaHabitat Centre, NaradaGanaSabha, ChennAi & Festiwal indii, Poland to name a few. She has been a core dancer in Sankhya Dance Company, Mumbai and NavaDance Theatre, SF and is the Company Manager & rehearsal director for NavaDance Theatre. Shruti’s new initiative “Kshetram” is an institute in Pleasanton where she teaches Bharatanatyam to young children and adults.
