Savitha Sastry

🪔 About

Savitha Sastry is an acclaimed Indian dancer and choreographer, widely recognized as a leading exponent of Bharatanatyam. Born Savitha Subramaniam on August 11, 1969, in Hyderabad, India, she later lived in Mumbai before her family settled in Chennai. Her early Bharatanatyam training began at the age of five under Guru T. A. Mohana at the Raja Rajeswari Kala Mandal Dance Academy in Mumbai. She continued her studies with Guru Mahalingam Pillai at the Sri Rajarajeswari Bharatha Natya Kala Mandir, and later received advanced training from esteemed gurus such as Adyar K. Lakshman, Smt. Shantha, and V.P. Dhananjayan in Chennai. Sastry pursued her academic education at P.S. Senior Secondary School and Stella Maris College in Chennai, and later earned a master's degree in neuroscience from the University of South Florida in Tampa, USA. For nearly two decades, she balanced a career as a neuroscientist, researching neurodegenerative diseases, with her passion for dance, teaching Bharatanatyam to the Indian diaspora in the US. In the mid-2000s, around 2009, Sastry made a significant career shift to become a full-time professional dancer. She is celebrated for her innovative approach to Bharatanatyam, moving away from traditional mythological or religious themes to create theme-based productions centered on novel stories. Critics have lauded her innovations as 'path breaking' and consider her a 'renaissance architect' who revolutionized Bharatanatyam's presentation after Rukmini Devi Arundale. Collaborating with her husband, writer A.K. Srikanth, Sastry has produced numerous dance theatre productions, including "Purushartha" (2002), "Sacrifice" (2003), "Krishna – The Supreme Mystic" (2006), "Music Within" (2010), "Soul Cages" (2012), "Yudh" (2013), "The Prophet" (2013), and "Chains" (2015). Since 2018, Sastry and Srikanth have focused on digital productions, releasing short classical dance films on free-to-stream platforms to reach a global audience. She is also the co-founder of NatyaSutra, an online platform dedicated to preserving Indian arts, and runs "The Inner Circle," a free online school for Bharatanatyam students. Awards & Honours: Best Short Film (2019), Best Short Film, Best Short Film, Best Global Short, Best Film on Women (2020), Best Short Fiction (2020), Best Director, Best Director, Best Screenplay.