|
||
|
Smt. Vishal Ramani, Founder and Artistic Director of the oldest dance school in the Bay Area, has been described as a “virtuoso” of a choreographer, with a “dazzling” and “incendiary” sense of rhythm and style. As a solo performer choreographing her own pieces, she has won overwhelming critical acclaim for performances in the United States and India, over the years. From the commencement of her 27 years at the head of the Shri Krupa Dance Company, Smt. Ramani envisioned a brilliant future for the Bharatanatyam art form in the United States. Established in the Bay Area, she has, to date, trained over 700 students in Bharathanatyam. An exceptional writer of thematic presentations, she has combined elements of Hindu mythology and literature, with everyday experiences of the contemporary world. In addition to traditional dance, she has the proven ability to collaborate with artists of other ancient and modern cultures and practices, such as China and Cambodia, to produce innovative yet balanced and unified full-length dramatic productions in the United States and abroad. She served as an Artist-in-Residence with the California Arts Council from 1987-88. As a result, hundreds of children from six schools in the San Jose Unified School District were taught the basics of Indian dance. Smt. Ramani is also the recipient of several awards including the Award of Excellence for contribution to the Arts and Humanities for the Indo American Chamber of Commerce, and has been honored by several organizations including the Foothill College Alumni Association. Several dancers have graduated from the school and continue to perform with the company. Ms Ramani was also featured in the much acclaimed KQED’s SPARK event in May2004 - "Legacies"" http://www.kqed.org/spark/artists-orgs/shrikrupa.jsp Smt. Ramani received her rigorous training in Bharatanatyam from Gurus Kuppiah Pillai, Govind Raj Pillai and Mahalingam Pillai, the reputed Nattuvanars of the Tanjore traditional style, at the Sri Raja Rajeshwari Bharata Natya Kala Mandir in Bombay, India. She has given many solo performances in Chennai, U.K. and the U.S., and conducts dance classes all around the Bay Area, in order to spread this ancient art form. She currently conducts lessons in Fremont, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, San Jose, and Morgan Hill. Shri Krupa Dance Foundation is a San Jose based non-profit 501(c)(3) organization committed to preserving and promoting the rich cultural heritage of India. We teach, perform and present, the Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam, in and around the Bay Area. We empower the ethnicity of the Bay Area community through our artistic interpretations and innovative contributions in the field of dance, music and drama. As the very first school for Bharatanatyam established in the Bay Area, Shri Krupa Dance Foundation has the distinction of bringing out some of the area's finest exponents of this classical art form. A committed group of artists along with the renowned teacher, dancer and choreographer Ms. Vishal Ramani have been engaged tirelessly in this noble pursuit for the past 25 years. Shri Krupa has produced innumerable full-length ballets for audiences in the United States and India and has successfully collaborated with several multi-thematic artists of other cultures around the world Shri Krupa continuously works to enrich the community with thought provoking performances based on the rigors of the ancient dance form. Since the early 1980’s, Shri Krupa has presented ballets with Hindu mythological themes as well as contemporary themes, such as literacy, prison reform, women’s empowerment and world peace Shri Krupa has formed an artistic alliance with world reknown dancer and teacher Madurai R. Muralidharan artistic director of Nrithyakshetra in Chennai India. Mr. Muralidharan along with his musical asemble has been providing live music for all the programs for the last 3 years thereby enriching the quality of the productions both for the audience and the performers. Shri Krupa has been the part of the Arts Incubation program Arts Development center of City of San Jose for the last 8 years. |
||
|
|
||