Musicians of Bahulya - Multiplicity Dance Performance
Nattuvangam - Conductor of the dance Sushma Mohan |
Sushma had her initial training under Guru Prasanna Kasthuri and later under Ranjani Ganesan, an alumni of Kalakshetra. She received her advanced training from Guru Dhananjayans at Bhaskara, a gurukula run by the renowned dancer couple in Kerala. To enhance her dance skills, she undertook training in martial arts of Manipur from Sri Khilton Nongmaiten, Kalaripayattu from Sri Anil Kumar, Kerala, Abhinaya from T K Mahalingam Pillai and Kathak from Maya Rao. She practiced music from the late Guru Sri Ambhi Bhagavatar, the tutor of the legendary Papa Choodamani. Sushma learnt nattuvangam from Guru Pulikeshi Kasthuri and went on to accompany popular dancers like Vani Ganapathy, Ranjani Ganesan, Prasanna Kasthuri and all the performances of Shanthala Arts Academy on nattuvangam.
As A
choreographer: Sushma's talents as a choreographer have come to the
foreground with her choreographic works like "Apoorva Sadashiva" a dance
presentation of the compositions of Mysore Sadashivaraya, who lived in
the 19th century in the court of Krishnadevaraja Wodeyar in Mysore. Her
other presentations are Dashavataara, Navagraha, Yathiraaja Vaibhava,
Mira and Gajendra Moksha. Sushma choreographed several ballets for the
ISKCON temple Bangalore, IISc (Indian Institute of Science) Bangalore
and was invited by the TTD (Tirupathi) to perform for their Brahmotsavam
celebrations 2002. |
Main Vocalist Seema Kasthuri |
Seema Kasthuri is an accomplished singer with a
charming voice. She has undergone Carnatic Music training for over 10
years under Vidwan K.R Venkatesh. She has completed her Senior level
board exams in Karnataka. Seema has accompanied Guru. Venkatesh in
several concerts held in many places of state of Karnataka. Seema has
taken active participation in most of the music productions from Sharada
Vidyalaya under guru Venkatesh that was produced for All India Radio.
She has also given concerts in Devotional Music and light music. Later,
she is pursued her education studentship with Chintalapalli
Krishnamurthy. Seema is an active dancer by herself; she performs with the productions of Soorya Dance Company. Seema has provided vocal support to classical dance drama productions. She composed music for "OM Ganesha" - a classical dance drama on lord Ganeshji's story. Seema's album "Sri Lola" - a collection of Daasa literature songs is released in India in November 2002. At present, Seema is taking advanced training in Carnatic music from Nagamani Srinath and Hindustani Music from Ustad Imrat Khan. Seema performs frequently. Her performances in Hindu Temple of St. Louis, Indian Association of Greater Springfield in 2005; in ANANYA - Bangalore in 2006 gave her high accolades. Seema accompanied many of arangetram functions of Soorya Performing Arts in 2006, 2007. Her recent role as RADHA in - "CALL OF THE FLUTE" - the first ever dance musical of USA got the attention of classical music and classical dance lovers evenly. |
Violinist par excellence Sandhya Srinath |
Sandhya, a Gold Medalist Masters graduate in Carnatic
Music and ‘A’ grade All India Radio and Television artist started
training from an early age from the Late Shri V. Janakiraman and then
later from Lalgudi G Jayaraman and Prof. T.N. Krishnan. She has given
many solo performances, has accompanied numerous senior and top class
musicians and dancers, and performed at various festivals in She has been awarded several prestigious awards - Best Young Violinist, Chennai, India in 2000 and Individual Artist Award from Prince George’s Arts Council, MD, USA in 2003, and the Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award for the Year 2008 to mention a few. She has several recordings to her credit and has given lecture-demonstrations at various universities.
She teaches Violin at |
Mridangam - Indian Drums Srinath Bala |
Having been initiated into the world of percussion by
the Late Sri Krishnan, Srinath has gone on to learn from Sri. R. Ramesh
(Karaikudi Mani Style of Percussion) and Maestro Padmabhushan Sangeetha
Kalanidhi Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman. He has accompanied many senior
artists such as Ravi Kiran, the Late Mani Krishnaswamy, Sangeetha
Kalanidhi, Sri. R. K. Srikantan, and Smt. Kamala Narayanan. Srinath has
also performed in
Srinath
has blended the Karaikudi Mani and Umayalpuram Sivaraman styles while
keeping the distinct “kannaku” and “nadam” aspects of the two schools
intact. He is a highly sought after Mridangam artist, and teaches
Mridangam at the |