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RSVP
When
Aug 13, 2022, 4:00 PM
Where
Oswego East High School,
1525 Harvey Rd, Oswego, IL 60543, USA

ARANGETRAM

(Seating begins at 3:30 PM)
 

VISHNUPRIYA'S JOURNEY

As a part of Natya Dance Theatre, she has performed at several prestigious Chicago Venues, including Harris Theater, Pritzker Pavillion, Chicago Cultural Center, Garfield Park Conservatory, Daley Plaza, Taste of Chicago, and Navy Pier. Vishnupriya has also received the opportunity to showcase the art of Bharatanatyam at Chicago’s Night Out in the Parks and Chicago’s Stomping Grounds Festival. 

 

Additionally, Vishnupriya has been trained in Carnatic Music since the age of three and has been training under the tutelage of Smt. Maragatham Mani Sundaresan for 10 years. 

Vishnupriya has a keen interest in playing the western flute and with the guidance of Mrs. Susan Slater for 8 years, she has been a part of the Illinois Music Association competitions and has brought home many high-ranking awards. 

 

Vishnupriya graduated from Neuqua Valley High School in 2021 and is a second-year student at Loyola University Chicago, majoring in Business and Healthcare Administration. 

Her involvement at Natya has influenced her to be involved in Loyola’s Indian dance teams. She has had the privilege of being a choreographer in just her first year there. Vishnupriya is beyond grateful for the opportunities she’s received at Natya Dance Theatre and she looks forward to taking her Bharatanatyam experience and applying it to the rest of her life.

Vishnupriya’s Bharatanatyam journey began at the age of three with the guidance of Smt. Hema Rajagopalan and Smt. Krithika Rajagopalan, and brings her to over 16 years of training before her Arangetram. What started with simple steps grew into a life-long pursuit of meaning and communication through music, movement, and storytelling. 

 

Her experiences in dance have given her a deeper appreciation for her Indian Culture and Heritage. Her diligence and dedication to this art form have contributed to the true passion that she has and wishes to share with diverse audiences. Trained in the art form, Vishnupriya seeks to inspire in others the discipline, patience, and dedication she has learned to value.

 

Vishnupriya has had the privilege to have performed with Natya Dance Theatre in various productions including “Balaramayanam”, “Barathi”, “Ramanuja”, “Vedanta Desikar”, the 2019 Tamil World Conference: “Tamizh Marabu”, “Meenakshi Kalyanam”, and “Daya Devi Darshanam”. 

About

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ABOUT THE GURUS

 Smt. Hema Rajagopalan
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2007

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2022

Guru Smt. Hema Rajagopalan is the Founder and Artistic Director of Natya Dance Theatre, an organization that specializes in performing and teaching Bharata Natyam, the dance-theatre of India. Natya Dance Theatre celebrated its 40th anniversary with its 2014-2015 season. She is a dancer, teacher, and choreographer of international repute, committed to preserving Bharata Natyam in its full integrity, developing the art form in new directions and bringing it to diverse audiences.

 

Hema has performed as a soloist at prestigious venues throughout the world, receiving critical acclaim. Noteworthy among them being Mandapa in Paris, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan London, the Edinburgh Festival, the Festival of India at the Smithsonian Museum, the Field Museum in Chicago, Embassy of India in Geneva, and in India at NCPA Mumbai, Krishna Gana Sabha, Narada Gana Sabha, Kartik Fine Arts, Bharat Kalachar in Chennai, and India International Center in Delhi. Her gurus are some of the foremost figures in Bharata Natyam: Padma Sri awardee Shri K. N. Dandayudapani Pillai and Padma Bhushan awardee Smt. Kalanidhi Narayanan.

Among the many prestigious awards that Hema has received are an Emmy Award for the PBS production of World Stage Chicago, seven National Endowment for the Arts Choreography Awards (the highest number ever received by any American choreographer), and, in India, and the Vishwa Kala Bharati Award for artistic excellence. In 2004, she was the first choreographer working in an Indian movement tradition to be selected by the Chicago Dancemakers Forum to create new work, and was also honored by the Bhairavi Fine Arts Society and Cleveland Tyagaraja Aradhana with the Nritya Seva Mani (Devotee of Dance) Award: Hema is the first US-based dancer to receive this award. In 2011 she was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by Soorya Dance Festival in St. Louis. In 2021, she was awarded the Dance Legacy Award by See Chicago Dance recognizing her contributions to the dance field at large.


Scores of students trained under Hema have distinguished themselves as performers, teachers and choreographers. Her teaching accolades include the Master Teacher Award from the Asian American Heritage Council and the Master Teacher Award from the City of Chicago. She has served as a dance panelist with the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Illinois Arts Council and other state arts agencies. Hema has been appointed by the Canadian government to assess Bharata Natyam dance training programs. She conducts workshops and master classes at colleges and universities throughout the country.

 Smt. Krithika Rajagopalan
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Guru Smt. Krithika Rajagopalan has trained under masters, learning from world-renowned practitioners Smt. Hema Rajagopalan and Padma Bhushan awardee Smt. Kalanidhi Narayanan. She has performed at prestigious venues all over the world, including the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C, the Ravinia Festival, the Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, the Kentucky Centre for the Arts, the Music and Dance Festival of Chennai, India, and the National Centre for Performing Arts in Mumbai, India. Krithika has collaborated with acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, and also performed with the Silk Road Ensemble at New York’s Rubin Museum. Krithika was the first Indian performer to be nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for Sita Ram. Apart from creating full evening length productions such as Ahimsa: Towards Non-Violence, Dhrasta: The One Who Sees. Sita Ram, Her Last Journey, to name a few. She has also created numerous short works. She conducts workshops, residencies and programming for Colleges and K-12 schools across the nation. Recognition and awards for Krithika’s work include the Chicago Dance Award, the Jerome Foundation Grant, the Master Teacher Award from the Illinois Art Council, the Illinois Arts Council Fellowship, the Woman Warrior Award from Columbia College Chicago, and the Commitment to the Arts Award from Mayor Daley and the City of Chicago.

Krithika continues her passion to create, produce, choreograph, innovate and teach the art while staying true to the foundation of Bharatanatyam. Creating work that strives to bring social awareness to the environment, global issues, interconnectedness of cultures, communities and people, are the bedrock of her work. Krithika lives between California and Illinois and continues to be a life learner in the arts. She lives with her husband and 3 kids who teach her more about who she is every day. 

THE GURU

ORCHESTRA

GALLERY
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