Beginnings
Mumbai, India
I began my Bharatanatyam training in Mumbai with my first teacher, Rohini M. Singhi. Alongside dance, I pursued academic study, completing a Political Science and Philosophy major at Jai Hind College, Mumbai, followed by a Performing Arts degree from Nalanda Nritya Kala Mahavidyalaya.
From early on, I was drawn to understanding not just movement, but the many layers—historical, cultural, and embodied—that inhabit Bharatanatyam.
Training
I continue to train under Vaibhav Arekar, whose guidance has deeply shaped my artistic practice. I was part of several dance productions and tours with Sankhya Dance Company, performing extensively and learning through lived, rigorous performance experiences.
During this phase, my relationship with Bharatanatyam deepened as I engaged with questions of lineage, tradition, appropriation, and inheritance, particularly within a form historically practised by women from the hereditary communities.
Today, my practice is an ongoing dialogue between the traditional repertoire I’ve inherited and the lived experiences of my present. It is a rigorous, daily commitment to refining technique while exploring how Bharatanatyam can hold the complexities of my immigrant identity. I continue to return to the studio not just to maintain form, but to investigate the intersections of persistence, memory, and the evolving meaning of home through movement.
Performances (Solo & Ensemble)
My work is a personal map of the places I now call home. As an immigrant artist, I use dance to understand how we carry our roots into new landscapes and find common ground through shared human experiences. This inquiry is the focus of my recent projects: As You Are, a performance blending Bharatanatyam, experimental movement, theatre, and live music to explore how women collectively navigate body image, motherhood, self-doubt, rebellion, abuse, and love—and how these contradictions live within our bodies. This contrasts with Kismet with Kali, a solo dance-theater work that draws on the mythology of Kali to navigate deeply personal cycles of love and loss. These creative journeys also shape my role as a Principal Dancer and Rehearsal Director with Nava Dance Theatre, where I investigate the intersections of memory, persistence, and the evolving meaning of home.
Curation
When Eyes Speak is San Francisco’s first South Asian Choreography Festival. Curated by Preethi Ramaprasad and Shruti Abhishek, it has been featured in inDance by Dancer’s Group, and as a Critic’s Pick by the San Francisco Chronicle. Over the years, the festival has been thankful for the support of the American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco Arts Commission, Zellerbach Family Foundation, Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center, Dance Mission Theatre, and Safehouse Arts, to name a few. Our hope as curators is to support artists showcasing the ingenuity and vastness of South Asian diasporic movement and art practices.
The Varnam Salon is a series of performances by senior art practitioners, mid-career artists, and upcoming dancers. This initiative began in 2018 in San Francisco, has been supported by the California Arts Council Local Impact Grant, and was co-founded by Nadhi Thekkek, Preethi Ramaprasad, and Shruti Abhishek. This salon was conceived to see Bharatanatyam practitioners in their element, to encourage the continued practice of timeless pieces in the Bharatanatyam repertoire, and to support artists with strong ties to California communities.
I lead the Art Echoes series because I want children to see that dance isn’t just a distant performance on a stage; it is a rigorous, breathing, and human journey. By bringing live performance into intimate, local spaces, I continue this series to spark a curiosity in young audiences that helps them see the arts as a way to understand themselves and the places they call home.
Teaching
2018 – Present
In 2018, I founded Kshetram, an intergenerational Bharatanatyam institution based in Livermore and Pleasanton, California. Kshetram emerged as a response to my evolving understanding of dance, culture, appropriation, tradition, and embodiment.
Through Kshetram, I seek to hold this form as a living practice—one that honors its roots while allowing space for transformation and growth across generations.
I follow a seven-year curriculum, through which students learn a complete Margam repertoire, alongside Slokas from the Abhinaya Darpana, rhythmic frameworks such as Talam, and choreographic methods.
Beyond the Stage
When I’m not dancing, I love to watch TV, go hiking & long walks, daydream, and stare into space. I enjoy music and doodling endlessly.
A Malayalee-Mumbaikar at heart, I hold a deep affection for chaaya (chai), spicy food & decadent chocolate desserts, monsoons, and—in my own words—Mumbai’s “romantic bustle”.