Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose
South Indian Bharatanatyam
Artistic director Mythili Kumar founded Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose in 1980 to present innovative and professional-quality performances of South Indian classical dance. With over 30 years of performance and instruction in the Bay Area, Abhinaya Dance Company has nurtured an entire generation of exceptional dancers in Bharatanatyam, the ancient classical dance of South India. The company’s performances showcase the ancient living tradition of classical Bharatanatyam, tracing its evolution with the compnay’s extensive repertoire inspired by India’s religious, mythological, and contemporary literature. Abhinaya Dance Company is known both for its adherence to tradition as well as its innovative multi-cultural collaborations.
In 2012, Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose received a grant from ACTA’s Living Cultures Grants Program to support an intensive 60-hour teacher training program to four advanced students under the direction of Mythili Kumar and three guest master artists. These advanced students will focus on choreography, musicianship, historic context, and storytelling in order to enhance their ability to transmit this ancient dance form to the next generation of dancers. Each teacher-trainee will be responsible for training two teenage students through their arangetram, a solo concert which entails hours of performance before the community
In 2007, Abhinaya Dance Company received a grant from ACTA’s Living Cultures Grants Program to support the production of Prithi: the Earth, a full-length concert interpreting ancient Sanskrit texts about Mother Earth. The repertoire included three traditional Bharatanatyam pieces.