Subhaashitham: Parables from India

Cast

Monica Cooley is a respected performer, teacher and choreographer of Bharatanatyam, the classical dance of South India. She is a senior disciple of the renowned dancing couple, Narasimhachari and Vasanthalakshmi of Chennai, India. An American born in Singapore and raised in Indonesia, with an academic background in South Asian Studies and over 25 years of training, performing and teaching experience in Bharatanatyam, Monica is uniquely suited as an interpreter of Indian culture for Western audiences. She performs regularly in the United States and India in addition to teaching Bharatanatyam at her institution, Kala Nivedanam, in Nashville, TN, which she established in 1992. She is also a faculty member of the Vanderbilt Dance Program and has served as visiting professor for Indian dance at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. A skilled teacher, Monica has trained many students to professional level, offering them opportunities to perform in Kala Nivedanam productions such as Megha Sandesha, Deivika Nrityam, and the current production, Subhaashitam: Parables from India.

Arthi Katkuri has been a student at Kala Nivedanam since 1996 and a Kala Nivedanam company member since 2000. Following her arangetram in 2002, she has continued to learn new works from Ms. Cooley and to perform professionally, both as a solo dancer and as part of the Kala Nivedanam ensemble, taking leading roles in Megha Sandesha and Deivika Nrityam. She is a recent graduate of Lipscomb University in Nashville with a degree in Economics and Finance.

Suchitra Sairam (Guest Artist) began her training in the Kalakshetra style of Bharatanatyam over 20 years ago, and has been principally trained by Padmini Chari, director of the Nritya School of Bharatanatyam in Houston, TX. She has also had the privilege of intensive training under several great masters of the Kalakshetra tradition, including The Narasimhacharis, Sri Adyar K. Lakshman, and The Dhananjayans. Suchitra has performed as a soloist, and as the lead dancer in several of Nritya's productions, most recently in Nritya's presentation of Varunapuri Kuravanji in 2006. She has also performed as a guest artist in productions by Madhusri Sethuraman (Navarasa - 1998) and Monica Cooley (Megha Sandesha - 2003), and was a cast member, dance captain and assistant choreographer of Zaraawar Mistry's theater adaptation of Haroun and the Sea of Stories in 2000. As a choreographer, she staged her first full-length work, Love Lyrics, in 2004. Suchitra currently resides in St. Paul, MN..

Danika Desai has been a student of Bharatanatyam at Kala Nivedanam since 1999 and in recent years has begun to perform locally as part of the Kala Nivedanam performing ensemble. A 2007 graduate of University School of Nashville, Danika's love of Indian classical dance has led her to defer enrollment in the University of California at Santa Cruz for one year to allow her to complete her Bharatanatyam arangetram scheduled for March 2008 and to tour with the KN Dance Company.

Vandana Botta joined Kala Nivedanam in 1995 and performed her arangetram in 2001. She has danced often with the Kala Nivedanam ensemble, most notably taking the role of the Megha in the company's 2003 tour of Megha Sandesha. Vandana is a graduate of Emory University and looks forward to a career in medicine and neurological research.