Nrutyakruti
Dance Classes
Offering Bharatanatyam lessons ONLINE!
Akruti Desai is a trained Bharatanatyam and Kathak dancer. Her deep passion and commitment to learning and performing has won her many accolades. After moving to the USA, Akruti has been teaching Bharatnatyam in the Bay Area, California since 2015.
She has learned the Kalakshetra style of Bharatanatyam dance from the age of five, from Smt. Tani Desai, a senior disciple of late Smt Anjali Medh of Kalakshetra, Chennai. The founder of Pagrav Dance Institute, Baroda, Gujarat, India, Smt. Tani Desai studied at The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda took her advanced training under the well-known dance exponents Padma Bhushan Shri C.V. Chandrasekhar and Smt. Jaya Chandrasekhar.
After completing her Visharad in Bharatanatyam, Akruti wanted to explore a different dance form, and went on to learning Kathak at the Faculty of Performing Arts, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Gujarat, India. She is trained in the Jaipur Gharana under Pt. Jadish Gangani, renowned Kathak exponent from Baroda, son of Sunderlal Gangani, the legendary traditional Kathak dancer of Jaipur gharana. She is also trained under the very well known Smt. Preeti Sathe, dicisple of Pt. Jagdish Gangani.
Apart from being classically trained, Akruti has extensive training and has taught and performed various Folk Dances of India as well.
Teaching Bharatanatyam!
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What is Bharatanatyam?
Bharatanatyam has three elements to it - Nritta (pure rhythmic body movements), Nritya (expressions or abhinaya is emphasized), and Natya (dramatic aspect). The word Bharata, interpreted as the dance form created by sage Bharata, has within it the essence and uniqueness associated with Bharatanatyam:
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'Bha' for bhava or abhinaya and expression
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'Ra' for raga or melody
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'Ta' for tala or rhythm.
Class Structure at Nrutyakruti
Classes are currently being held online once or twice a week and are divided into three tracks - Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced with 2 levels in each track.
