About the Gurus
Hema Rajagopalan
Hema Rajagopalan is the Founder and Artistic Director of Natya
Dance Theatre, an organization that specializes in performing and
teaching Bharata Natyam, the dance-theatre of India. Natya Dance
Theatre celebrated its 40th anniversary with its 2014-2015 season.
She is a dancer, teacher, and choreographer of international
repute, committed to preserving Bharata Natyam in its full integrity,
developing the art form in new directions and bringing it to diverse
audiences.
Hema has performed as a soloist at prestigious venues throughout
the world, receiving critical acclaim. Noteworthy among them being
Mandapa in Paris, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan London, the Edinburgh
Festival, the Festival of India at the Smithsonian Museum, the
Field Museum in Chicago, Embassy of India in Geneva, and in
India at NCPA Mumbai, Krishna Gana Sabha, Narada Gana Sabha, Kartik Fine Arts, Bharat Kalachar in Chennai, and
India International Center in Delhi. Her gurus are some of the foremost figures in Bharata Natyam: Padma Sri awardee
Shri K. N. Dandayudapani Pillai and Padma Bhushan awardee Smt. Kalanidhi Narayanan.
Among the many prestigious awards that Hema has received are an Emmy Award for the PBS production of World Stage
Chicago, seven National Endowment for the Arts Choreography Awards (the highest number ever received by any
American choreographer), and, in India, and the Vishwa Kala Bharati Award for artistic excellence. In 2004, she was the
first choreographer working in an Indian movement tradition to be selected by the Chicago Dancemakers Forum to create
new work, and was also honored by the Bhairavi Fine Arts Society and Cleveland Tyagaraja Aradhana with the Nritya
Seva Mani (Devotee of Dance) Award: Hema is the first US-based dancer to receive this award. In 2011 she was honored
with a Lifetime Achievement Award by Soorya Dance Festival in St. Louis. In 2021, she was awarded the Dance Legacy
Award by See Chicago Dance recognizing her contributions to the dance field at large.
Scores of students trained under Hema have distinguished themselves as performers, teachers and choreographers. Her
teaching accolades include the Master Teacher Award from the Asian American Heritage Council and the Master Teacher
Award from the City of Chicago. She has served as a dance panelist with the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pew
Charitable Trusts, the Illinois Arts Council and other state arts agencies. Hema has been appointed by the Canadian
government to assess Bharata Natyam dance training programs. She conducts workshops and master classes at colleges
and universities throughout the country.
Krithika Rajagopalan
Guru Smt. Krithika Rajagopalan has trained under masters, learning from world-renowned practitioners Smt. Hema Rajagopalan and Padma Bhushan awardee Smt. Kalanidhi Narayanan. She has performed at prestigious venues all over the world, including the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C, the Ravinia Festival, the Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, the Kentucky Centre for the Arts, the Music and Dance Festival of Chennai, India, and the National Centre for Performing Arts in Mumbai, India. Krithika has collaborated with acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, and also performed with the Silk Road Ensemble at New York’s Rubin Museum. Krithika was the first Indian performer to be nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for Sita Ram. Apart from creating full evening length productions such as Ahimsa: Towards Non-Violence, Dhrasta: The One Who Sees. Sita Ram, Her Last Journey, to name a few. She has also created numerous short works. She conducts workshops, residencies and programming for Colleges and K-12 schools across the nation. Recognition and awards for Krithika’s work include the Chicago Dance Award, the Jerome Foundation Grant, the Master Teacher Award from the Illinois Art Council, the Illinois Arts Council Fellowship, the Woman Warrior Award from Columbia College Chicago, and the Commitment to the Arts Award from Mayor Daley and the City of Chicago.
Krithika continues her passion to create, produce, choreograph, innovate and teach the art while staying true to the foundation of Bharatanatyam. Creating work that strives to bring social awareness to the environment, global issues, interconnectedness of cultures, communities and people, are the bedrock of her work. Krithika lives between California and Illinois and continues to be a life learner in the arts. She lives with her husband and 3 kids who teach her more about who she is every day.