sunil dance sunilnellay

🪔 About

Sunil Nellay is a renowned Bharatanatyam dancer, teacher, scholar, and institution head from Kochi, Kerala, India. He is recognized for being the first male Bharatanatyam student at R.L.V. Music College, Tripunithara, a significant achievement at a time when the art form was predominantly associated with women. He completed his diploma and post-diploma from R.L.V. in 1992 and pursued post-graduation from M.G. University in 2002. His guru is Nattyacharya Dhanajayan. Nellay has dedicated over 28 years to dance, performing and conducting Bharatanatyam workshops annually in the United States. He is a proponent of the purest form of the art and believes dance should also address contemporary social issues. He founded and leads the Nellay Nruthanjaly Dance & Music School, with centers in his hometown Nellay, Kumaranasan Junction, and Ponekkara, Ernakulam. He also taught at RLV Music College for five years. In 2016, he was conferred with a doctorate in Bharatanatyam by The Academy of Global Peace, New York University, for his research on different Bharatanatyam techniques and their role in physical and mental fitness. His family also shares his passion for dance; his wife, Resmi Narayanan, is a dancer and Carnatic musician, and his daughter, Malavika M Sunil, is also a dancer and actress. Awards & Honours: The New York Best Indian Classical Dancer Award (2013), Gurushreshta Award (2013), Natyakala Manikom (2014), State Prathibha Puraskaram (2015), Nrutha Shresta Award (2013), Natacharya Award (2013), Navachandika Acharya Sreshta.