company

Artistic Director: Dr. Aparna Sindhoor. Co-Directors: Anil Natyaveda and S M Raju

Navarasa Dance Theater was founded by renowned dancer/choreographer Dr. Aparna Sindhoor in 1991. Inspired by the eclectic performing arts traditions, boldly knitting together dance, songs, martial arts, and original music into seamless theatrical presentations, Navarasa’s multilayered, multilingual productions inspire, engage and entertain audiences around the world. New movement vocabulary created by chore-ographers Aparna Sindhoor and Anil Natyaveda along with theatrical narratives designed by S M Raju, Navarasa Dance Theater’s work is specific and universal at the same time. Navarasa Dance Theater has performed in the North America, Asia and Europe and has been presented at various festivals and venues including the Bates Dance Festival, Lincoln Center (NYC), and NJPAC, Jacob’s Pillow and Asian American Theater Festival, USA, Teesri Duniya Theater, Canada, Amol Palekar’s Beyond Words Theatre Festival and Bahuroopi National Theatre Festival, India and Franco Dragone’s show in Germany. Navarasa Dance Theater has performing arts training schools in USA and India. Navarasa’s ongoing teach-ing programs include “Dance for Everyone” project that offers scholarships and free dance training for underprivileged children. Critics around the world have hailed Navarasa Dance Theater’s work as “Breath-taking!”, “A magical mix of tradition, styles” and “I have never seen anything quite like Aparna Sindhoor's company”.

Founder and Artistic Director: Dr. Aparna Sindhoor is a choreographer, director, actor and singer. Critics have called Sindhoor as a powerful voice for creating contemporary works of extraordinary artistry and works that challenge the boundaries of traditional Indian dance, yet contribute to strengthening that tradi-tion. She has created more than fifteen contemporary dance theater works that have been performed at numerous venues and festivals, including the Lincoln Center, Jacob's Pillow, LAMAMA, Asian American Theater Festival, New Haven Festival of Arts and Ideas, World Social Forum, USA, Teesri Duniya Theatre, Canada and Ragayana and Amol Palekhar’s Theater Festival, India. She choreographed for Indian films including Santhosh Sivan’s, Anandabadhram and S M Raju’s Varnam. She has collaborated with various theater and dance companies including New World Theater, Urban Bush Women and Franco Dragone’. Sind-hoor trained in the Mysore style of Bharatanatyam for more than fifteen years with legendary teacher, Dr. K. Venkatalakshamma (Mysore palace dancer). She has trained in yoga, martial arts, contemporary, aerial dance, music and theater for more than a decade. Her current work has synthesized these distinct art forms into a unified whole. She is a Gold Medalist in Dance from Mysore University and she has a PhD in Dance, Cultural and Women’s Studies from the Boston University. She was an RDDI artist for New England Founda-tion for the Arts in 2007. She was the artist in residency at the prestigious Bates Dance Festival 2011 and at Brandeis University.

Co-Director: Anil Natyaveda is a choreographer, dancer, teacher and a martial artist (kalari ppyattu) from Triuvanathapuram, India. Anil has trained in classical dance forms and has also trained in contemporary and aerial dance forms with renowned teachers including Daksha Seth, Professor Shivanandan, Jayachandran, Vembayam Appukuttan Nair, Uday Deshpande and Govindankutti Gurukal. He has a degree in dance from Sree Swathithirunal Music College, India. He also acquired teacher-training degree in Dance: Project Sakrthaya. He has been a professional dancer since 1991. He has performed all over the world including at the Edinburgh Dance Festival, Germany International Summer Theatre Festival, Hong Kong Art Festival, Khaguraho Festival in Dance, Kozh Company, UK celebrating Indian Independence. He has also performed and taught dance classes in USA and Canada. He choreographed for Indian films including Santhosh Sivan’s Anandabadhram. In 2008 the Kerala State Guru Gopinath Trust, India, honored him with the Natyaratnam for his contribution to Indian arts.

Co-Founder and Co-Director: S M Raju completed his bachelors in computer science from the Birla Insti-tute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India. He was a successful computer scientist in the USA where he did his graduate studies. He worked as a senior researcher in Verizon Labs and then went on to start Knumi, a venture funded startup. He has two US patents to his credit. His passion for film and theater led him to

company

write, direct and produce several theater works for Navarasa Dance Theater. He has served as a board member of Yantra Media, a TV production house. Currently, he is producing educational videos for school children for the government of Tamilnadu, India and children’s content for the home video market. He is also a multiple winner of the James Baldwin playwright award. He was one of the executive producers of Anandabhadram, a Malayalam feature film (anandhabhadram.com). His directorial debut film Varnam (varnamthefilm.com) explores universal themes of prejudice, faith and forgiveness in an Indian context that is caught at the crossroads of globalization and feudal traditions. In 2011 Varnam was released in India and was officially selected for London Asian Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival and the Chennai Intertional Film Festival.

2D, Rajarajan streetVisalakshi NagarEkaduthangalChennai - 600 032Tamil Nadu, India.Tel: +91 44 43542525 / 26Mob: +91 9884612346

16 Gibbens StreetSomervilleM.A 02143,USA.Tel: +1 617 776 7939Mob: +1 617 702 2422www.navarasa.orgnavarasa@yahoo.com

photographs by Alphonse Roy, Ganesh Ramachandran, Allyn Samuel, Rich Fletcher, Mireille Couture, Don Perrault

company

Artistic Director: Dr. Aparna Sindhoor. Co-Directors: Anil Natyaveda and S M Raju

Navarasa Dance Theater was founded by renowned dancer/choreographer Dr. Aparna Sindhoor in 1991. Inspired by the eclectic performing arts traditions, boldly knitting together dance, songs, martial arts, and original music into seamless theatrical presentations, Navarasa’s multilayered, multilingual productions inspire, engage and entertain audiences around the world. New movement vocabulary created by chore-ographers Aparna Sindhoor and Anil Natyaveda along with theatrical narratives designed by S M Raju, Navarasa Dance Theater’s work is specific and universal at the same time. Navarasa Dance Theater has performed in the North America, Asia and Europe and has been presented at various festivals and venues including the Bates Dance Festival, Lincoln Center (NYC), and NJPAC, Jacob’s Pillow and Asian American Theater Festival, USA, Teesri Duniya Theater, Canada, Amol Palekar’s Beyond Words Theatre Festival and Bahuroopi National Theatre Festival, India and Franco Dragone’s show in Germany. Navarasa Dance Theater has performing arts training schools in USA and India. Navarasa’s ongoing teach-ing programs include “Dance for Everyone” project that offers scholarships and free dance training for underprivileged children. Critics around the world have hailed Navarasa Dance Theater’s work as “Breath-taking!”, “A magical mix of tradition, styles” and “I have never seen anything quite like Aparna Sindhoor's company”.

Founder and Artistic Director: Dr. Aparna Sindhoor is a choreographer, director, actor and singer. Critics have called Sindhoor as a powerful voice for creating contemporary works of extraordinary artistry and works that challenge the boundaries of traditional Indian dance, yet contribute to strengthening that tradi-tion. She has created more than fifteen contemporary dance theater works that have been performed at numerous venues and festivals, including the Lincoln Center, Jacob's Pillow, LAMAMA, Asian American Theater Festival, New Haven Festival of Arts and Ideas, World Social Forum, USA, Teesri Duniya Theatre, Canada and Ragayana and Amol Palekhar’s Theater Festival, India. She choreographed for Indian films including Santhosh Sivan’s, Anandabadhram and S M Raju’s Varnam. She has collaborated with various theater and dance companies including New World Theater, Urban Bush Women and Franco Dragone’. Sind-hoor trained in the Mysore style of Bharatanatyam for more than fifteen years with legendary teacher, Dr. K. Venkatalakshamma (Mysore palace dancer). She has trained in yoga, martial arts, contemporary, aerial dance, music and theater for more than a decade. Her current work has synthesized these distinct art forms into a unified whole. She is a Gold Medalist in Dance from Mysore University and she has a PhD in Dance, Cultural and Women’s Studies from the Boston University. She was an RDDI artist for New England Founda-tion for the Arts in 2007. She was the artist in residency at the prestigious Bates Dance Festival 2011 and at Brandeis University.

Co-Director: Anil Natyaveda is a choreographer, dancer, teacher and a martial artist (kalari ppyattu) from Triuvanathapuram, India. Anil has trained in classical dance forms and has also trained in contemporary and aerial dance forms with renowned teachers including Daksha Seth, Professor Shivanandan, Jayachandran, Vembayam Appukuttan Nair, Uday Deshpande and Govindankutti Gurukal. He has a degree in dance from Sree Swathithirunal Music College, India. He also acquired teacher-training degree in Dance: Project Sakrthaya. He has been a professional dancer since 1991. He has performed all over the world including at the Edinburgh Dance Festival, Germany International Summer Theatre Festival, Hong Kong Art Festival, Khaguraho Festival in Dance, Kozh Company, UK celebrating Indian Independence. He has also performed and taught dance classes in USA and Canada. He choreographed for Indian films including Santhosh Sivan’s Anandabadhram. In 2008 the Kerala State Guru Gopinath Trust, India, honored him with the Natyaratnam for his contribution to Indian arts.

Co-Founder and Co-Director: S M Raju completed his bachelors in computer science from the Birla Insti-tute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India. He was a successful computer scientist in the USA where he did his graduate studies. He worked as a senior researcher in Verizon Labs and then went on to start Knumi, a venture funded startup. He has two US patents to his credit. His passion for film and theater led him to

company

write, direct and produce several theater works for Navarasa Dance Theater. He has served as a board member of Yantra Media, a TV production house. Currently, he is producing educational videos for school children for the government of Tamilnadu, India and children’s content for the home video market. He is also a multiple winner of the James Baldwin playwright award. He was one of the executive producers of Anandabhadram, a Malayalam feature film (anandhabhadram.com). His directorial debut film Varnam (varnamthefilm.com) explores universal themes of prejudice, faith and forgiveness in an Indian context that is caught at the crossroads of globalization and feudal traditions. In 2011 Varnam was released in India and was officially selected for London Asian Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, Chen-nai International Film Festival and the Norway Tamil Film Festival.

2D, Rajarajan streetVisalakshi NagarEkaduthangalChennai - 600 032Tamil Nadu, India.Tel: +91 44 43542525 / 26Mob: +91 9884612346

16 Gibbens StreetSomervilleM.A 02143,USA.Tel: +1 617 776 7939Mob: +1 617 702 2422www.navarasa.orgnavarasa@yahoo.com

photographs by Alphonse Roy, Ganesh Ramachandran, Allyn Samuel, Rich Fletcher, Mireille Couture, Don Perrault