For over four decades, proud daughter of Oaxaqueños, Maria Luisa Colmenarez has played a large role in ensuring Mexican folk dance remains accessible to the community while advocating for a larger presence in the performing arts space. She currently serves as the executive director of Danzantes Unidos de California, a…
Guru Vidushi Smt. Naina Shastri is the Artistic Director of Ushanjali School of Dance, a premier Tri Valley-East Bay based South Indian Classical Dance academy. Students are trained in the Mysuru style of Bharatanatya and taught both theoretical and practical aspects of this ancient art form. Students of Ushanjali have…
Evie Ladin is a percussive-dancer, choreographer, singer, songwriter, banjo player and square-dance caller with a lifetime of experience in traditional American cultural arts and intercultural music/dance performance and education. Based in Oakland, CA, Evie grew up in a traditional folk scene on the East Coast of the US, and early…
Gayatri Subramanian is the Founder/Artistic Director of KA Academy of Indian Music & Dance. She is a professional Bharatanatyam dancer, choreographer and instructor is one of the senior most disciples of Guru Smt. Padmini Radhakrishnan, the Founder-Director of the institute “Soundarya Natya Kalalaya Foundation”, Mumbai. She has undergone intensive training for over…
Ganesh Vasudeva is a Bharatanatyam dancer and choreographer. Ganesh has created many works and presented his works in India, FRance, London and the United States. Ganesh believes dance is an all encompassing form that connects him to everyone & everything that has come in the past and yet to…
Charya Burt is an acclaimed master dancer, choreographer, vocalist and teacher of Classical Cambodian Dance. After the Khmer Rouge genocide, Burt trained extensively with Cambodia’s foremost surviving dance masters, eventually joining the dance faculty of Cambodia’s Royal University of Fine Arts. As a member of Cambodia’s…
Snigdha Venkataramani is an established Bharatanatyam dancer, choreographer, teacher, Carnatic Vocalist and music composer. She has received training in Bharatanatyam art form for over three decades under the tutelage of the world-renowned dance Guru Padmabhushan Dr. Saroja Vaidyanathan at her institution Ganesa Natyalaya, New Delhi. She has also had the…
Over-articulated and barely translated, Gbedu Town Radio tells dynamic stories for the culture. Led by Artistic Director, Nkeiruka Oruche, and featuring a dynamic group of performers, GTR explores social and political themes through Pan Afro-Urban music and dance including Afrobeats, Dancehall, Coupé-Décalé & varieties of Hip hop. Gbedu Town Radio…
Amelia Butler is an indigenous Māori woman of Ngātiwai, Ngāti Awa and Ngāpuhi descent. She attended Kōhanga Reo (Māori language preschool) at a young age and grew up in Auckland, New Zealand. Amelia studied Māori by correspondence at secondary school and led her school’s kapa haka (traditional Māori performance) group.
