Ramaa Bharadvaj

🪔 About

Ramaa Bharadvaj is a celebrated Indian classical dancer, choreographer, storyteller, educator, writer, and arts-curator, renowned for her mastery in Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi. Born in Madras (now Chennai), India, she began her dance training at the age of four under the legendary Bharatanatyam guru Vazhuvoor Ramaiah Pillai. From ages 10 to 19, she further honed her Bharatanatyam skills as a principal dancer in the company of the legendary Kamala. She also studied Kuchipudi under Vempatti Chinna Satyam. Bharadvaj spent 32 years living and working in the United States, primarily in Southern California, where she became a tireless advocate for multicultural arts education. In 1982, she founded the Angahara Academy of Performing Arts and later formed the Angahara Ensemble in 1990, serving as its artistic director. Her innovative choreography and performances earned her multiple prestigious accolades, including several Lester Horton Dance Awards, with her first in 1993, and two more in 2002 for Outstanding Achievement in Performance and Outstanding Achievement in Choreography. In 2003, she was honored as a Master Artist of California by the Alliance for California Traditional Artists and received the California Arts Council's Directors' Award for her exemplary contributions to the arts. Her work has been widely recognized, including being featured on the cover of Dance Magazine in July 2000 alongside her daughter, Swetha Bharadvaj. Her critically acclaimed choreography "JWALA-Flame" was telecast nationally on PBS in December 2007. Bharadvaj has served on dance panels for the California Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, and has been a visiting faculty member at various universities and colleges, including Orange Coast College and Pomona College. In 2009, Ramaa Bharadvaj returned to India and is currently based in Bengaluru. She serves as the Director-Dance at Chinmaya Naada Bindu Gurukul for Performing Arts in Kolvan, Pune, where she also curates the annual national dance and music festival. She continues to teach, write, and speak on the arts, transforming from a classical dancer into a "kata naraki" or dancing storyteller, blending her extensive dance experience with Hindu philosophy, theater, and writing. Awards & Honours: Lester Horton Dance Award (1993), Lester Horton Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Performance (2002), Lester Horton Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography (2002), Master Artist of California (2003), California Arts Council's Directors' Award (2003).