Indian Cast and Musician Biographies

Dancers

• Myna Bisineer
  Myna started dancing at the age of 7 and has been trained in the Pandanallur style of Bharathanatyam under Sri Ramanna. She performed her Rangapravesham in 1992 in Bangalore, India. She has given a number of performances in South India touring with her Guru. Myna presently works for i2 Technologies in Cambridge, MA and though not associated with MIT, would like to be associated with and continue dancing for Natya.
  
  
• Ishani Das
  Ishani Radha Das graduated from the MIT Aerospace and Astronautics Engineering department in 2003. Prior to MIT, she was instructed by Indira Satyapriya in the Nalanda School of Dance. She completed her Arangetram in 1991. Ishani is excited to have the opportunity to be involved with Natya once again. Welcome!
  
  
• Nupur Garg
  Nupur is sophomore pursuing a Chemical and Biological Engineering major. She has performed Bhangra with MIT Bhangra and has danced in the MIT Culture show.
  
  
• Neera Jain
  Neera is a junior at MIT majoring in Mechanical Engineering. She studied Bharatha Natyam for 6 years under the instruction of Vijaylakshmi Shetty-Ahuja at the Natraj Dance Academy in Buffalo Grove, IL. She has been performing Bharatha Natyam with MIT Natya since her freshman year and hopes to continue her involvement with the club while at MIT.
  
  
• Ruchi Jain
  Ruchi is a sophomore in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. She has performed Bhangra with MIT Bhangra, and danced in the MIT SAAS Cultural Show.
  
  
• Radha Kalluri
  Radha would like to thank her friend and mentor Gayathri Srinivasan for her wonderful instruction and unflagging support. Radha was trained in the Mysore style of Bharatha Natyam at the Navarasa Dance Academy (Somerville, MA) under Ms. Aparna Sindhoor. She previously trained under Mrs. Resha Day (Ranchi, India) and Mrs. Jothi Raghavan (Lincoln, MA). Radha is a MIT graduate student in the Speech and Hearing Sciences Program of the Division of Health Sciences and Technology. She is one of the original founders and a past Co-President of Natya.
  
  
• Gargi Khare
  Gargi Khare is a Senior in Brain & Cognitive Sciences at MIT. She has performed Indian dance for 15 years. She currently is a part of CHAMAK, a fusion dance team and has danced with MIT Bhangra for three years.
  
  
• Sumati Ram-Mohan
  Sumati Ram-Mohan graduated from MIT in 2003 in Brain and Cognitive Sciences. She received her training in the Vazhavoor style of Bharatha Natyam from Smt. Jothi Raghavan and completed her Arangetram in 1998. Since then, Sumati has participated in the professional productions Visions of Vyasa and Alankaram. Sumati helped to start MIT Natya in 1999, and has been involved in its leadership over the past five years.
  
  
• Monica Sircar
  Monica Sircar, a recent MIT alum, is a student at Harvard Medical School in the Health, Sciences and Technology (HST) division. She trained under the renowned Bharatha Natyam dancer-film actress Padmini Ramachandran for six years; Ms. Ramachandran is a disciple of Sri Vazhuvoor Ramaiah Pillai of Tanjore, and runs the School of Fine Arts in New York. Monica performed with Natya as an undergraduate and is excited to take part in this crosscultural representation of the epic Ramayana.
  
  
• Krithika Sridharan
  Krithika Sridharan is a graduate student in the Information Systems department at Northeastern University, Boston. She had her initial training in the Bharathanatyam dance style under the auspices of Natyacharya Guru Vazhuvoor R. Samraj, and subsequently under Kalaimamani K.J. Sarasa. She also had her music training from her mother Srimathi Rama Sridharan. After her Arangetram in 1994, she has performed at reputed sabhas such as Karthik Fine Arts, RR Sabha, Mylapore Fine Arts, Kapali Fine arts and Nungambakkam Fine Arts at Chennai. Krithika was selected by the Tamil Nadu Izhal Isai Nataka Manram of the State Music Academy as one of the four upcoming dancers from the entire state. She has given programs under their aegis at Chennai for Karthik Fine Arts, at Tiruchirapalli for Rasika Ranjana Sabha, and at Tirunelveli for Nellai Sangeetha Sabha.
  
  
• Priyanka Sundareshan
  Priyanka has learnt Bharatanatyam for 10 years from Smt. Asha Gopal, founder and director of the Arathi School of India-Dance, of Phoenix, Arizona. She performed her arangetram in 1999 in Bangalore, India. She is currently a junior majoring in chemical engineering with an environmental policy minor.
  
  
• Charuleka Varadharajan
  Charu began her Bharatha Natyam training at the age of 4. She was last trained in the Kalakshetra style by Smt. Radhika Shurajit (a disciple of Sri. Dhananjayan) in Madras. Charu is a MIT graduate student in the Information Technology program of the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. After coming to MIT she has performed in the 2004 cultural show and Natyanjali.
  
  

Narration

• Dhananjaya Dendukuri
  Dhananjaya Dendukuri is a graduate student in Chemical Engineering at MIT. He is very interested in Indian classical music. He'd like to say he plays the Carnatic violin but unfortunately he must still classify himself as a student. Dhananjaya is also interested in drama and this is his first association with Natya.
  

Musicians

• Ramachandran Balakrishna
  Ramachandran Balakrishna is a graduate student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT, and is pursuing his doctoral research with the Intelligent Transportation Systems program. He began his study of Carnatic violin fourteen years ago with Sri Nagarajan (a disciple of violin maestro Lalgudi G. Jayaraman), and subsequently learned from Madurai Sri P. V. Raghavan and Sri K. V. S. Vinay. Ramachandran began his association with MIT's Natya group two years ago, providing accompaniment for Natyanjali 2002. He recently began teaching Carnatic violin to beginners.
  
  
• Aarthi Chandrasekaran
  Aarthi began her vocal training in Carnatic music at the age of 5 under the guidance of Smt. Sheshamambal and subsequently trained under Sri. Shyama Sastri in Hyderabad. She is a graduate student in the Division of Biological Engineering at MIT.
  
  
• Srinath Gaddam
  Srinath has been learning the flute for ten years, and is currently a student of Dr. N. Ramani. He initially learnt under Sri Ram Nath (Ashland, Massachusetts) and subsequently under Smt. Loka V. Shankar (Bangalore, India). He is a recent graduate in Computer Science from UMass Amherst, where he founded "Srutilaya," and organized a variety of professional Indian music concerts. Srinath's most memorable performance was at the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana in 2002 as part of a flute orchestra led by Dr. Ramani. This is his first collaboration with MIT Natya.
  
  
• Ray Goldsworthy
  Raymond Goldsworthy is proud to take part in this crazy dream. Ray played tabla in one of the music pieces and was in charge of recording and mixing the music and narration. Ray grew up in the foothills of he Appalacians where he was melded by a confluence of bluegrass, baptist gospel, and southern rock.




Comments and questions to natya-exec[at]mit.edu