Brief information of the Artist

Guru Prasanna Kasthuri

1.     Artistic excellence

Prasanna Kasthuri is considered as a leading Guru (Master) in Bharathanatyam, Kathak and Carnatic music in USA and in India. He has practiced and performed the art of dancing mainly Bharathanatyam & Kathak in USA and in India for 4 decades. His vision has brought many great projects to many deserved areas in Asia, Europe and Americas.

2.     History of active engagement in creating artwork and presenting it to the public –

The huge list of his choreography and compositions speak volumes of his work. Although, he trained in traditional art forms, his ideas were always been innovative and responded to the new beat of contemporary social issues.  He was adept at traditional repertoires such as “Maaargams” or evolving first musical opera of India in USA – “Call of Flute” ; or  a creative dance work on American and British poets – “Rainbow 2” – or an intriguing work of dance on Indian Mathematician – “Aryabhatta – who invented the number “Zero” -    are all his artistic achievements. His recent metaphysical production – “Vismaya” – questions existence of human race in this Universe. The list of performances provides information on ample engagement from past 40 years. Has given thousands of performances and trained thousands of students.

3.     Artistic education or training (formal or informal)

-       Learnt classical dance and music in a traditional way, under excellent Gurus in a Gurukula for more than 16 years.                                                                                             

-       A rank holder in Vidwat Exam in dance (1984) – which is equivalent to a Master’s Degree from Karnataka Government, India                          

-       Distinction in Senior grade Exam in Vocal music (1987) – which is equivalent to Bachelor’s degree.                                                           

-       Attended workshops of veteran Indian dance masters  such as Birju Maharaj, Dhananjayan, Adyar Lakshmanan, Mahalingam Pillai, Dr. Venkatalakshamma, Pandanallur Gopalakrishna, B R Seshadri.

-       Holds a Masters in Information system from St. Mary’s university, San Antonio, Texas (1996) and a Mechanical engineering from Bangalore University (1989) 

4.     Significant Achievements

-       Creating Indian Dance and Music Festival successively for 7 years in USA

-       Performing 24 hours non-stop marathon dances in 1986 in Bharathanatyam style

-       Dedicating life to Indian performing Arts by moving away from highly paying Information Technology job in 2002 and establishing Soorya Performing Arts to promote Indian performing Arts in USA.