FACULTY

Meet Our Faculty

Smt. Keetha Mohan and Smt. Sashi Aravinth

Instructors and Academy Directors

CO-FOUNDERS AND ARTISTIC DIRECTORS OF ARUNODHAYA DANCE ACADEMY, MRS. KEETHA MOHAN AND MRS. SASHI ARAVINTH (NÉE SELLATHURAI) ARE LIFELONG STUDENT OF THE CLASSICAL INDIAN DANCE, BHARATHANATYAM. THEIR GURUS INCLUDE SHREE C. S. THOMAS AND SHREEMATI VASUNDHARA THOMAS, TWO OF KALAKSHETRA’S FINEST TEACHERS. IN 2003, SASHI SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED THE MONTREAL BASED KALABARATHI’S BHARATHANATYA TEACHER TRAINING COURSE.

GIFTED DANCERS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS, BOTH SISTERS HAVE PERFORMED IN SRI LANKA, CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THEY HAVE MANY AWARDS FOR CHOREOGRAPHY, COSTUME DESIGN, DIRECTION AND PERFORMANCE TO THEIR CREDIT FROM MANY OF THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS. THEY ALSO HAVE TO THEIR CREDITS A SEMI-CLASSICAL DANCE VIDEO PRODUCTION “DARISHANAM”, AND A SPECTACULAR LIVE STAGE SHOW “RANGEELA”.

BOTH KEETHA AND SASHI ARE RECIPIENT OF SEVERAL SPECIAL AWARDS FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE AS AN ARTISTS, TEACHERS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS. KEETHA AND SASHI’S WORK WITH ARUNODHAYA IS AN OUTGROWTH OF THEIR DEDICATION TO THE PRESERVATION AND PERFORMANCE OF THE INDIAN DANCE TRADITION IN ALL ITS MANY FORMS. THEIR TALENTS AS DANCERS, DEVOTION TO BHARATHANATYAM, AMIABLE QUALITIES AND TEACHING ABILITIES HAVE ATTRACTED MANY STUDENTS TO THEM.

UNDER THEIR GUIDANCE, ARUNODHAYA'S PERFORMERS EXPLORE THE FULL SPECTRUM OF INDIAN DANCE FROM THE CLASSICAL ELEGANCE OF BHARATHANATYAM, AND COLORFUL EXUBERANCE OF TRADITIONAL FOLK PIECES, TO THE THOROUGHLY CONTEMPORARY EXPRESSION OF MODERN CREATIVE CHOREOGRAPHY.

Smt. Vasundhara Thomas and Smt. Suhasini Thomas

Visiting Instructors and Examiners

We are honoured to have Smt. Vasundhara Thomas and Smt. Suhasini Thomas from Chennai India as our Visiting Instructors and Examiners. Smt. Vasundhara Thomas is a Retired Faculty member from Kalkshetra and her daughter Smt. Suhasini Thomas is a performing artist and a past faculty and Alumini of Kalakshetra Foundation.

Smt. Kanista Sen

Instructor

Smt. Kanista Senthan has been with Arunodhaya Dance Academy for 15 years learning under the guidance of her guru Smt. Sashi Aravinth. She joined our school as an intermediate student having learnt the Kalakshetra style at the age of 12 and now, assists as a teacher in training. In 2018, she attended a Bharathanatyam 3 days workshop and learned under the guidance of Smt. Rukmini Vijayakumar, from Bangalore. Currently, she is undergoing advanced Bharatanatyam training with Smt. Sureka Radhakrishnan, post-diploma holder from Kalakshetra in Toronto and founder of Nirthiyalaya and music lessons from Smt. Vijayalakshmi Srinivasan. In addition, Kanista is working towards her online Diploma with Alagappa Performing Arts Academy. She completed her Paralegal Diploma in 2015 and is a licensed Paralegal with the Law Society of Ontario. We are delighted to see Kanista’s dedication and interest to explore and increase her knowledge in this art form.

Bollywood Dance Instructor

My name is Sneha Shah and I am the instructor for Bollywood dance.. I am pretty excited to teach you all. I am the disciple of Smt. Radhika shurajit, have learnt Bharatanatyam for 15 years.. I have performed many shows around the world.. Have performed many Bollywood dances as well.. looking forward to meet you all..

Yoga Instructor

Mrs. DEEPIKA RAMESH (BE, MBA) the founder of SKANDA AROGIYAM is an enthusiastic corporate Human Resource Manager, started her journey with YOGA in the year 2014 & discovered the light of yoga which made her to identify the reasons & lessons about how yoga is precious to keep one’s mind, body and soul interconnected to a contended living. She started her journey with her mat 6 years ago and hasn’t stopped since. Mrs. Deepika Ramesh is an internationally certified (ERYT500) yoga trainer & Nutritionist – An admirer of self-awareness and mindfulness, What fascinates the most to her about this divine philosophy is, it’s based upon scientific grounds and is mostly supported by meaningful theories.Her greatest inspiration to opt yoga in her life is from her Mother-in-law, Mrs. Shyamala Sivakumar who is (Diploma in Yoga ,MSC YOGA, MD in ACUPUNCTURE ). Deepika’s goal is to create optimistic awareness and inculcate the importance and potentiality of YOGA which is not only for flexibility but for an energized living. “Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.” is the mantra she strongly believes and shares with every client who knocks the door of SKANDA AROGIYAM. According to her, there are four pillars of Yoga that act as a guiding light in one’s journey of exploring the self – Determination, Discipline, Dedication, and Devotion. One must obey and rely on these pillars if they wish to live this delightful and magnificent experience. This journey is incomplete without thanking my family members and my husband Prasad Sivakumaar for their continuous support.

Yoga Instructor

Subhi Singh, an IT project Manager, started the Yoga Journey as one of the tools to keep fit in 2006. Yoga helped her to find balance and peace amid the stress and chaos of the executive world. She fell in love with how yoga made her feel: peaceful, focused, grounded, strong, and increasingly compassionate. This passion grew more and eventually led her to complete a Post Graduate Diploma in Yoga in 2011 followed by M.Sc in Yoga in 2014.

Subhi has a deep desire to share her knowledge and love of yoga and has volunteered teaching since 2014. Subhi always dreamt to be a part of Yoga Alliance (the directory of Yoga teachers across the world), this led to the completion of RYT200 in 2020 and now a registered Yoga Alliance member (YA ID -341000) and also undergoing RYT500 training and Precision Nutrition certification.

Subhi has learned different styles of Yoga - Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Bikram, Power and Yin and ceretified in Restorative and Chair Yoga and strongly believes Yoga is for everyone and follows every style of Yoga in her classes.
Subhi strongly believes "LEARNING has no END",hence still learning and a student first. Her educational background includes Bachelors in Computer Applications and Masters in Business Administrations (Systems)