Pro Artists

Prasanna Kasthuri hails from a family of literature and music and is the eldest son of – Mr. Raghusutha and Mrs. K R Padmaje. Both his parents were well-known literary figures in the Kannada language from South India. Prasanna is a reputed performer and a teacher of two classical dance forms – Bharathanatyam and Kathak. He is respectfully referred to as “Guruji” for his service to Indian performing arts.

Prasanna Kasthuri established Shantala Arts Academy in Bengaluru, India, in 1985. He presented several noteworthy performances in India, such as 24 hours nonstop Marathon Dancing in 1986; Kaavya Kinkini (1988), a total Kannada language-based repertoire in Bharathanatyam; Subhadra Parinaya (1991) – a Sanskrit Dance Drama; Shringara Nayakaru (1994) – a production on Nine sentiments from a male point of view. He was invited to perform and coach Sanskrit dance drama in Paris in 1991 for Soliel d'Or, a French dance company, and Lasya Dance Company from the United Kingdom. Prasanna moved to the USA for higher studies and artistic exploration in 1994.

Prasanna worked as a volunteer dance professor at Arathi School of Indian Dances from 1994-96 in San Antonio, TX. Later, Prasanna established Soorya Performing Arts in 2002 in St. Louis, MO, to promote Indian classical dance, music, and theater to a greater Midwest audience in America. He headed many great projects co-sponsored by the prestigious Regional Arts Council of St. Louis and the Missouri Arts Council. He created some unique productions, such as – “Gokula Nirgamana,” – the first Indian Opera ever performed outside India. In this production, dancers sang and danced simultaneously, which is a rare achievement in the field of Bharathanatyam. He collaborated with Pandit Vishwamohan Bhat to compose his innovative “ Rainbow–II “ dance production based on famous English and American Poems. He was invited to International Tap festivals held in Oklahoma and St. Louis and performed in Asian Festivals in Columbus, Ohio.

Prasanna was invited to present “Anubhava Mantapa” – a production based on Sharana literature in North American Veerashaiva Sammelana and in the North American Indian Classical Dance Festival, which was held at the University of Texas in San Antonio by Arathi School. His innovation of Geya Nrithya attracted many patrons at the Natya Festival in Baltimore, MD. He choreographed India's national poet Kuvempu’s Poetry - "Beral Ge Koral," into a full-fledged dance -drama performed in more than 30 cities across the USA and INDIA. He was invited to teach Indian Classical dances at Webster University, St. Louis, and Stephens College, Columbia.

Apart from being a devoted performer, Prasanna Kasthuri has encouraged and supported thousands of artists by organizing events. Under his leadership, St. Louis witnessed the first Indian Drama Festival – “Nataka 2007” and the first ANNUAL Indian Classical Dance Festival of USA – “St. Louis Indian Dance Festival” in 2008. This festival was renamed as “America Natya Festival” in 2015. A recent one was held in 2019. He has also organized the “St. Louis Indian Music Festival” since 2011 – every year. In November 2020 - he hosted “Virtual St. Louis Indian Music Festival,” - an online music festival involving artists from the USA and India.

Guruji Prasanna was honored with the titles – “Natya Shankara,” “Nritya Bharatha,” Nritya Bhushana,” “Kalayogi,” and many more. In 2020, he was awarded the reputed “Ravi Datar Award.”

He holds a rank in Proficiency Exams (Vidwat in 1985), and a Master’s Degree in Information technology always shines high on his resume. He has also trained thousands of students in India, Europe, and the USA. More than 35 students performed arangetrams under his tutelage. His book of dance literature will be published in the Spring of 2022.

Prasanna owes his learning to the blessings of his Gurus, Dr. Maya Rao (Kathak), Dr. Lalitha Srinivasan, and Smt. Narmada (Bharathanatyam). He prostrates to the legendary gurus such as Birju Maharaj, Mahalingam Pillai, Adyar Lakshmanan, Chitra Visweswaran, and Pandanallur Gopalakrishna for allowing him to learn in their workshops. Prasanna is also a good singer, music composer, and frequent percussionist.

Pulikeshi Kasthuri

Pulikeshi Kasthuri is an acclaimed dancer, nattuvangist, teacher, and promoter of classical arts. He embraces the world of classical Indian dances with full strength and vigor. His performances are marked by an enjoyable aesthetical experience with an absolute charge of creativity. Pulikeshi has mastered the art of Bharathanatyam through his training under veterans gurus such as Lalitha Srinivasan (senior disciple of Venkatalakshamma – court dancer of Mysore Wodeyars) and Narmada (disciple of Kittappa Pillai). He was also blessed by Guru Maya Rao, who initiated him into the art of Kathak. The govt of India’s Human Resources dept. Felicitated him with a national scholarship from 1996-98 that facilitated him to pursue his art deeper.

Pulikeshi, with a firm hold on laya(rhythm) and his perfect pronunciation, has been quickly acclaimed as the best nattuvangist of Karnataka and has been invited by all famous Indian classical dancers to accompany them on nattuvangam. More than 150 organizations have awarded him for his work. Some of them are Kinkini’s “Best Nattuvanar of the decade,” “Aryabhata Award for nattuvangam,” and “Kalayogi.”

Pulikeshi’s significant credentials include

Master’s degree in Dance from Bangalore University
Choreography degree from the Natya Institute of Kathak and Choreography, Bangalore University, under the tutelage of Guru Maya Rao
Vidwath certification from the govt. of Karnataka
The First nattuvangist to conduct nattuvangam workshops in Bangalore back to back, owing to popular demand
Accompanying the country’s top dancers for over two decades on nattuvangam.

Choreographic works

Bakasura Vadha – The episode of slaying Bakasura – From the Mahabharatha
Kirataarjuniya – Arjuna’s Penance from Mahabharatha
Veera Raghava Vyayoga – Scenes from Ramayana
Mata Daana – A political satire on election
PachaBhoota – A thematic presentation on the elements
Usha Parinaya – A romantic story from the Mahabharatha
Bhima Rasayaya – Work on mythological hero Bheema from Mahabharatha
Shakaara – a Negative character role from 2nd-century Sanskrit drama – Mruchchakatika.

Pulikeshi has performed Bharathanatyam and Kathak at the Soorya Festival, Nitya Nrutha, National Jamboree, and Surya Dance Festival in Kerala. He has traveled to Great Britain, Switzerland, France, Kenya, Kuwait, Iraq, Russia, Spain, and many more countries to perform. He has conducted 60 arangetrams with his students in India. Currently, he trains hundreds of students in Bharathanatyam and Nattuvangam in Shanthala Arts Academy as an Artistic Director.

The music direction for SAMARPAN is by Tirumale Srinivasan (popularly known as Chami ). Chami is the elder son of Tirumale SriRangachar, who is the leading proponent of Karnataka’s performing arts. Chami received Carnatic music training from his mother T Vaidehi. He is a gold Medalist in Carnatic Music Master's degree from Bangalore University in Carnatic Music.

Chami is one of the main sought-after music directors for Soorya Dance Company. In the recent history, he has scored music for Anubhava Mantapa, Jnana, Shrungara Nayakaru, Nireeksha, Bahulya.

Tirumale Srinivas is a Graded artist of All India Radio (National Radio of Indian Government). He has served in Kendriya Vidyalaya for 20 years.

He has performed at many eminent organizations like Bangalore Gayana Samaja, Krishna Sangeetha Sabha, Gana Kala Parishat, Percussive Art Centre, ISKCON, Tirumala TTD, and many other places like Chennai, Bombay, Bhopal, Delhi, etc.

Tirumale Srinivas is also an accomplished Mridangist, who accompanied many senior musicians like Vid. R K Srikantan, Doreswamy Iyengar, Anoor Ramakrishna, A Veerabhadriah, Sri Vidya Bhushana, Jamboo Kannan, Tirumale Sisters, etc. An active artist member of Laya Lahari, a percussion ensemble of Ayyanar College of Music, Bangalore.

Chami has scored music for more than 500 music CDs, Cassettes. He is a sought-after music composer. Many eminent singers like S Janaki, S P Balasubramaniam, Rajkumar Bharati, P B Srinivas, Vani Jayaram, B R Chaya, B K Sumitra, Kasturi Shankar, and others have rendered their voices to his compositions. Vidya Bhushan Swamiji’s most devaranamas are composed by Chami.

His compositions to Bharathanatyam are very popular. “Sri Krishna Kamalanatha” varnam has become a very well-performed varnam.

He initially worked in Central school teaching music for more than 20 years. He took voluntary retirement so he can serve the music field better.

He was invited by ICCR as faculty to Mauritius to teach NRIs and Foreign students on the Mauritius Islands.

He has taken teams of musicians to different parts of India. He was specially invited to direct music in 2014 AKKA.

He has created a melodious group of singers presenting Karnataka's treasure of music such as Devaranaama vachanas. Being a creative person, he has created innumerable compositions.

Mr. Gaurang Bhavsaar

Mr. Gaurang Bhavsaar holds a Masters’s Degree (1992) in Dramatics from the reputed Maharaja Sayyajirao university in Baroda, in Gujarat, India. He worked in hundreds of dramas, short skits tele serials in his life. His drama “Crime Passion” won first prize from Maharashtra Government in the state-level competition in 1994. His teledramas such as “Chando she shambro”; “Bagiya Bacharam” (Comedy) were telecasted on Gujarati Doordarshan (Television). He worked with eminent theater personalities such as Homiwadia, Paresh Rawal, Rita Bhaduri, and Dharmesh Vyas. He worked in the production of the Mithun Chakraborty movie – “Saajish” from Bollywood. He worked on the USA tour with Nana Patekar’s “Purush” work. Tarak Mehta’s wife was Neha, who became a famous star in Gujarati Tele-serials.

Ms. Bianca Radhakrishna holds a Vidwath degree from the Karnataka government. She is a student of Mr. Srinivas and Mrs. Radha Sridhar from Bangalore, India. She did her with her sister Nithash on 21^st June 2013, at the famous Ravindra Kalakshetra in Bangalore.

She is a Graded Performing Artist in the Indian National Television – Doordarshan. She played leading roles in dance production such as GeethaGovinda, Ramayana, Mohini Bhasmasura, and Natyarani Shanthala.

She has performed at The Nehru Centre, London, United Kin, m; at Bekescsaba Danube Cultural Festival organized by EmbassyofIndia in Hungary. She traveled with her Guru with a large troupe to perform in AKKASammelan at Atlantic City, Kaveri Kannada Koota in Maryland, Virginia; at Boston; Kala Navaratri Dance Festival, Saint Louis; KannadaKoota, NewJersey; Kannada Vrinda, Houston; For Vedic Cultural Centre, for the celebration of Diwali–Lights of India.

She has extensively performed in Indian dance festivals such as Natya Kalottunga Awards at Jaganmohan Palace, Mysore; Kala nadam, Bengaluru; Rasa Sanje Annual Dance Festival; Bangalore International Arts Festival; Nitya Nritya Dance Festival; Kinkini Nrityotsava; World Dance Day 2015 organized Alliance Franchise; Nirantaram Dance Festival; Dance Jatre 2018; Ankura2018; Shanthala Nritya Vaibhava managed by Shanthala Arts Trust.

Seema Kasthuri is a practitioner, performer and teacher of Carnatic classical music. Her musical journey started at a young age under the tutelage of Vid KR Venkatesh from Mysore. She continues her advance training under Prof Nagamani Srinath and Madurai Balasubramanyam.

Seema has performed for many organizations in Kansas City, Columbia, Chicago, and Los Angeles. She was awarded the “AKKA Idol” title at the American Kannada Koota conference in 2012.

Seema’s versatility allows her to accompany her husband’s creative dance productions as a lead vocalist. As a lead singer, she has also lent her voice to many arangetrams in North America. Seema has released several music albums in the classical, devotional, and contemporary genres and has many music videos to her credit on youtube.

She was a recipient of an artistic grant from the Regional arts commission for her project. She has worked with “Wind-Chyme”, a unique fusion, classical, and RAP experimentation collection.

Seema has performed with St. Louis-based musician Todd Mosby as part of the World Fusion ensemble and collaborated with a rapper and musician based out of Columbia.

Seema has taught classical music to youngsters and adults for over 15 years, and many of her students perform and have taken their passion for exploring and branching out. Students of Soorya school of music perform individual concerts year long under the “Baithak series” banner. Seema Kasthuri also serves as the artistic director of Soorya Performing Arts, a nonprofit organization to promotes and nurtures Indian classical Dance and Music.

Sanjib Bhattacharya, recipient of President’s Awards from Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam in 2006 and Smt. Pratibha Patil, in 2011, is an accomplished Manipuri Dance Exponent, Guru and well-known Choreographer in India and abroad. He has received training under the tutelage of Guru Bipin Singh, Padmashri Darshana Jhaveri, Kalavati Devi, Manjushree Chaki Sircar, and Mamata Shankar.

Sanjeeb is an established performer of great repute, having extensively performed across India and abroad. He is not only performing as a solo artist but also with eminent Gurus and Icons of Indian Classical dances like Padma vibhushan Sonal Mansingh, Padmashri Darshana Jhaveri, Padmashri Ranjana Gauhar, Sadanam Balakrishnan and other eminent gurus all over India and abroad.

Sanjeeb runs several dance academies and institutions in India and Abroad while conducting Lecture Demonstrations and workshops regularly across the Globe.

Below are the places where Sanjib has danced - Khajuraho Dance Festival, Konark Festival, Uday Shankar Festival, Kalke Kalakar Sammelan, Swami Haridas Sammelan, Ghungroo Festival, Swarna Mritya Pratibha, Kalaghora Festival, World Dance Week, Nisha Gandhi Festival, Prayag Festival, ISKCON Temple Festival, India Habitat Centre, Sangeet Natak Academy, Epicenter, Homi Bhava Centre, Indian Festival, Spicmacay Festival, Kali Dasa Samaroh, Sharangadeva Samaroh, National Centre For Performing Arts, Sirpur National Dance Festival, Elephanta Dance Festival, Ninad Concert Series, Bhawans Dance Festival, Tirumala Tirupati Balaji Temple, Mahabalipuram Dance Festival, Kapaleshwar Temple, Guru Debaprasad Nritya Parampara Festival, Mudra National Dance Festival, South Asian Games 2016 – Olympic Council of India and many others.

Samanvita kasthuri hails from a family of literature, dance, music, and yoga. She is a third-generation writer, second-generation musician, and dancer. Samanvita ’s paternal grandparents (Mr. Raghusutha and Mrs. K R Padmaje) were Kannada literary figures. Samanvita kasthuri is trained under Guru and Father - Prasanna Kasthuri in Kathak, Bharathanatyam; and Guru and mother Seema Kasthuri in Carnatic music. Samanvita completed her Kathak Rangmanch Pravesh (2015) and Bharatanatyam Arangetram (2016) in the presence of Gurus such as Smitha Rajan, Sujatha Vinjamuri, Sushma Mohan, and others.

Respectable Padmabhushan Birju Maharajji blessed Samanvita during his visit in 2008 to St. Louis. She was fortunate to get special training in Kathak workshops under Guru Lalitha Srinivasan, Guru Shila Mehta, Bharathi Vittal, and Prajakta Raj Atre. She has performed in prestigious festivals such as American Natya Festivals, American Kannada Kootagal Aagara (AKKA), Federation of Tamil of North America (FeTNA), Telugu Association of North America (TANA), Painted Bride Arts Center in Philadelphia, Shanthala Dance Festival, Los Angeles Indian Dance Festival and Nadam Dance Festivals in India. Apart from these, she has performed at Webster Arts Fair, The Muny, Maryland Heights World Festival, and Sheldon Concert Hall.

Samanvita was the first Indian to win prizes prestigious Fox Teen Talent Competition and performed in 2017 and 2019 in the Fabulous Fox Theater in front of 3000 people. In 2019, She performed “Equal” – a contemporary dance production on Female Injustices, aired on PBS Television and at a pro-choice rally held in St. Louis after the sweeping bans on women’s rights.

Music Direction: Tirumale Srinivasa (Chami)

Musicians

Vocal: Mr. Sesha Prasad, MR. Raghu Nandan Bhat, Mrs. Raksha, Mrs. Seema Kasthuri, Mr. Prasanna Kasthuri
Telugu Song: Vishwa Prasad (Kansas)
Bengali Song: from Punascha Singers

Nattuvangam: Pulikeshi Kasturi, Prasanna Kasthuri, Janardhan Rao
Padanth: Gurumurthy Vaidya
Mrudangam: P Janaradhan Rao
Tabla: Gurumurthy Vaidya
Flute: K S Jayaram
Key Board: Shabbir
Percussion EFX: Anthony Joseph Raj

Sound Engineer: Nagaraj
Studio: Aravind Studio

Translations of Songs:

Telugu: Ravi Pasupaletui
Tamil: Natarajan Ramesh
Bengali: Dilip Das
Hindi: Raghunandan Bhat and Dr. Siddagangamma

Costumes

Prabhat Devaraj
Yeshwanthapura Devaraj
Vaishali

Large Banners
Arjun - Durga Printers- Yelahanka
Dr. Naveen Krishna

Coordination in India
Mukunda Murthy
Vaishali
Sailaja Kasturi

ART WORK
Meghana

Video Editing and Special Effects
Saswatha

Soorya Performing Arts

Prasanna Kasthuri - Concept & Vision

Pulikeshi Kasthuri

Tirumale Srinivasa (Chami) - Music director

Gaurang Bhavsaar

Bianca Radhakrishna

Seema Kasthuri - Coordinator and Artistic Director

Sanjeeb Bhattacharya

Samanvita Kasthuri

Credentials

Artists Participating in Samarpan

Artists Participating in Samarpan

Artists Participating in Samarpan

Artists Participating in Samarpan

Prasanna Kasthuri - Concept & Vision

Pulikeshi Kasthuri

Tirumale Srinivasa (Chami) - Music director

Gaurang Bhavsaar

Bianca Radhakrishna

Seema Kasthuri - Coordinator and Artistic Director

Sanjeeb Bhattacharya​

Samanvita Kasthuri​

Credentials

Artists Participating in Samarpan

Artists Participating in Samarpan

Artists Participating in Samarpan

Artists Participating in Samarpan

Sanjeeb Bhattacharya

Samanvita Kasthuri