Anupama Ra...

🪔 About

Anupama Rao Mirle is the Executive Director and Artistic Director of NrityArpana School of Performing Arts, a non-profit academy she founded in February 2004 in the metropolitan Cincinnati area, USA. She is a highly trained practitioner of Indian classical dance, specializing in Bharatanatyam and Odissi. Her Bharatanatyam training was under Dr. Jayashree Rajagoplan, a direct student of the esteemed Dr. Padma Subramayam, while her Odissi training was guided by Guru Bansidhar Dwivedi. Anupama Rao Mirle furthered her academic credentials in dance, earning a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Bharatanatyam from Shastra University, India, in 2015. Known affectionately as Anupa, she has dedicated herself to dance education, having taught over 300 children, and currently instructs 60 students at her NrityArpana studio in Mason, Ohio. Her artistic vision extends to choreography, where she is recognized for her innovative approach in blending diverse media and art forms into classical dance, creating unique idioms. Her choreographic works often delve into complex societal themes such as nuclear armament, corporate ethics, racial issues, and cross-cultural diversity. Her contributions to the arts have been acknowledged through various grants and awards, including project grants for NrityArpana totaling $100,000 and individual artist grants of $20,000. She is an invited member of the UNESCO Council of World Dance, France, and has performed at the 24th World Congress of Dance in Athens. Other accolades include being named an Ohio Choreographer by Ohio Dance in 2005, an Ohio Heritage Fellow by the Ohio Arts Council in 2013, and receiving the Dada Rafiki Award for Community Service through the Arts in 2015. She also received the Dance USA Dance Best Choreography Award for Midwest Regionals in 2018. Awards & Honours: Project Grants for NrityArpana, Grants for individual artist, Ohio Choreographer (2005), Invited Member to UNESCO, Council of World Dance (2007), Ohio Heritage Fellow (2013), Dada Rafiki Award for Community Service through the Arts (2015), Dance USA Dance Best Choreography Award for Midwest Regionals (2018).