Faculty

Smt. Vinitha Subramanian, Director

Vinitha Subramanian began her dancing career at the tender age of four under the tutelage of Thirukoshtiyur Nagarathna Ammal. She then went on to be trained in the Thirukoshtiyur and Pandanainallur styles under Shri Radhakrishnan of Bangalore and Madurai S. Jayaraman, She also received a year of Kathakali training under Shri Manoharan, She has given performances in diverse cities as Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Tirupati, and all over Tamilnadu. After moving to Texas, she founded Natyalaya School of Dance in 1982. Since then, she has taken scores of students through margam training, culminating in their arangetrams. Many of her students have gone on to make their own marks in the field of dance. She also has several dance dramas to her credit: “Prahala Bhakthi Vijayam,” “Nauka Charitram,” “Two faces of Shiva,” “Aaru Padai Veedu,” “Raja Rajeshwari,” “Ganga – A River’s story,” and “Navahavarna – Colors of Number Nine.” Under her direction Natyalaya has grown to over 90 students with branches in Austin, Temple, and College Station.

Kanaka Sathasivan, Associate Director

Kanaka Sathasivan started learning dance under the tutelage of Smt. Vinitha Subramanian at the age of seven, completing her Arangetram in 1999. She continued her instruction with a number of acclaimed artists and has learned both Mohaniattam under Kalamandalam Radhika, and Kuchipudi under Vaijaynthi Kashi. She has also been trained in Nattuvangam under P. Narendra Kumar and D.V. Prasanna Kumar. She has performed all over Texas as well as in Tamil Nadu. While completing her studies at the University of Texas, she performed with Nritya Sangam, an elite, award-winning classical dance troupe. Kanaka began teaching at Natyalaya in 2000. Over the past 12 years, she has taught students of all levels and ages as well as performed in and choreographed a number of productions in the Austin area. As Associate Director, she coordinates the lighting and management of Natyalaya productions. She also does stage management for Bharathanatyam and theater productions through her company Natya Sabhai Arts.

Gayathri Iyer

Gayathri Iyer has learned dance from the age of 5 under Guru Sudha Maheshwari in New Delhi and performed her Arangetram at the age of 11. She continued her training under Guru Archita Mehta, a post graduate from Kalakshetra at Sangeet Bharati School of Dance in New Delhi. Gayathri has traveled to Singapore and Malaysia as part of a cultural tour and participated in several dance dramas. She was also actively involved in fund-raising through dance for the Austin Hindu temple.

 

Neha Atyam

Dancing, whether classical, folk, or Bollywood, comes naturally to Neha She started learning Bharatanatyam under Mrs. Aler Krishnan at the age of six. A year later she joined Natyalaya under the direction of Ms. Aparna Raman. After four years she moved into the erudite guidance of Mrs. Vinitha Subramanian. Neha completed her Arangetram in 2010. In addition to dancing, Neha balanced a number of curricular and extra-curricular activities. She was co-president of Diversity Club for two years and co-chared several committees in Student Council. She was also in the Air Force Junior Reserved Officer Training Corps and has attained the rank of Corps Commander in her final year  in high school. Currently Neha is enrolled in University of Texas at Austin, where she is pre-med, studying biochemistry.

 

More faculty profiles coming soon!