Global Arts Foundation Victoria Inc. - GAFV

05/05/2021

We are excited to continue our celebrations of International Dance Day with a kathak presentation by the students of Ghunghroo School of Kathak.
Established in 2008 based in suburban Melbourne, Australia, Ghungroo School of Dance offers lessons in the North Indian classical dance stream of Kathak.

Smt Sumona Bhattacharya, the Director of Ghungroo School of Dance, is a disciple of Padmashree Vidushi Smt Rani Karnaa Nayak. She has also received coaching and mentoring from Kathak stalwarts like Padmabhushan Kumudini Lakhia, Vidushi Saswati Sen and Pt Rajendra Gangani.
The dance school has hosted numerous concerts and performances in prestigious venues such as the DeakinEdge auditorium. The objective of the dance school is to teach pure classical style Kathak and ability to dance with live music.

Ghungroo School of Kathak Dance

03/05/2021

GAFV presents Indonesian dancer Yulitta Owen. Yulitta is a registered nurse at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Yulitta was born and raised in Central Java known for the strong tradition of traditional dance. Much of it stems from the palaces of the sultans of Yogyakarta and Solo palaces.

Yulitta has learned traditional Javanese dance from the age of 6, with her first public performance at the age of 7. She has been dancing since, for more than 45 years now, mainly Javanese traditional Solo style.

In Australia she has joined Lestari Indonesian traditional dance group which incorporates dances from some of the other islands. The group often performs for multicultural community events and for the Indonesian consulate.

02/05/2021

GAFV is extremely delighted to celebrate World Dance Day with yet another emerging artiste from Melbourne, Rukshikaa Elankumaran.
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Rukshikaa commenced dance training at the tender age of three under the tutelage of her mother, Smt. Meena Elankumaran, and completed her Bharathanatya Arangetram in 2007 at the age of 8. She has performed at many prestigious stages in India including Brahma Gana Sabha, Indian Fine Arts, Mylapore Fine Arts, Karthik Fine Arts, Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, Nadaneeranjanam (Tirupati) and most recently selected to perform in the Illamayil Thiramai
series under Krishna Gana Sabha. She has also performed for various cultural events nationally and internationally in many countries including Canada, United Kingdom and the USA. As an ardent learner of Bharathanatyam, Rukshikaa has received advanced training from Sri Madurai R Muralidharan, Smt. Chithra Muralidharan, Smt. S Divyasena, Sri PT. Narendran and Smt. Priyadarshini Govind. In December 2017 she was the proud recipient of the Krishna Priya National Award. Her skills and talent are finding its way across many stages with an invitation to perform at the renowned Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival (2018 &
2019) and is a winner of the choreography competition conducted by the Aradhana.
Rukshikaa recently staged her Carnatic vocal debut under the tutelage of Sri. Palghat TR Rajaram. Having completed her Diploma in Bharathanatyam, she is currently a senior teacher and choreographer at Nadanalaya Academy and is gaining the acclaim of her peers around the world.

01/05/2021

GAFV is delighted to present NATYALAYAA (School of Indian Classical Dance)

Natyalayaa Dance School was established in 1990 by its Artistic Director, Ushanthini Sripathmanathan for the purpose of presenting traditional classical performances of Bharatha Natyam as well as innovative and inter-cultural dance works in Victoria, Australia.
Ushanthini Sripathmanathan has embedded herself in a dancing career, playing the key roles as a performer, choreographer, teacher, mentor and an Arts Facilitator in
the Melbourne classical dancing arena. Her choreography involves movement created
through layering, juxtaposing, and exploring spatial planes.

Since its inception, Natyalayaa has produced and presented several full length dance concerts (annually), festivals, solo performances, collaborative works, residencies, master workshops and classes. Today it is a highly recognized school of exquisite artists who continuously emphasize and embrace the participation of multi-disciplinary dance works from diverse cultural backgrounds in the school’s productions.It is a major cultural centre which serves as an agent for cultural preservation, presentation
and exchange. The school sustains and develops the traditional arts forms of India through teaching and
performance of Bharatha Natyam for audiences of all backgrounds. It has also presented a variety of folk dance, dance dramas and special public
performances.

Natyalayaa advocates a teaching technique in compliance with strict criteria set by Ushanthini to uphold the very essence of Bharatha Natyam while preserving its sanctity. It also works to engage other art forms and cultures through educational programs and collaborative endeavours to promote the value of Indian culture, preserve and link ancient art forms among India and Australia.

Audio CreditsT. Janarthanan - PushpanjaliBombay Jayshree - ThillanaRanjani-Gayathri Sisters - Sri Ramachandra

30/04/2021

GAFV is extremely delighted to showcase Mohiniattam by the gifted artiste from Brisbane, Bindu Rajendren
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Bindu was introduced to the magical world of dance by her first Guru, Shri Kalamandalam Mohan, at the age of 4. For over 17 years Bindu trained under the skillful tutelage of Shri Kalamandalam Mohan in Bharatanatyam, Mohiniattam and Kuchipudi. Since 2014, Bindu has chosen to specialise and pursue advanced training in Mohiniattam, a feminine dance style from Kerala. Bindu continues to advance her dance by taking masterclasses under the tutelage of eminent Mohiniattam legends, Guru Kalamandalam Sugandhi Prabhu and Guru Nirmala Panikker. Bindu has also trained and frequently works with Guru Tara Rajkumar OAM, Natya Sudha Dance School and Company, Melbourne. Bindu has trained under Guru G Venu, a Kudiyattam and Kathakali exponent in abhinaya and theatre and Guru Priyadarshini Govind for abhinaya- finetuning her theoretical, performative, choreographic, emotive and expressive skills. Bindu is currently immersing herself in the study of Sopana music with her guru Anil . P.S. She composes, conceptualizes and choreographs new works that are relevant and traditional.

Bindu has over a decade of experience in teaching Indian classical and improvised dances privately and through dance programs offered at schools, universities, art galleries and museums, and at music and dance festivals. She has also taught at the Queensland University of Technology within the Dance Studies department as a sessional academic.

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Reproduction of the audio recording is prohibited under any circumstance.

Ganapathy Chollu

29/04/2021

GAFV is excited to commence our online Dance Mela 2021 with the extremely talented young danseuse from Melbourne, Lakshanya Vasan.

Lakshanya Vasan is a highly trained Bharatanatyam dancer based in Melbourne, Australia, who has a passion for all dance forms. Starting her Natya journey at the age of 5, she began under the tutelage of Kalakshetra Alumni Smt Shanthy Rajendran with whom she gained a strong foundation before continuing with Bharata Kalanjali Alumni Smt Rathika Mahadeva. She completed her Arangetram in 2011 under the guidance of Smt Rathika as well as the esteemed Shri P.T Narendran from Kalakshetra, from whom she still regularly undergoes training. She was blessed to have the opportunity to pursue Bharatanatyam and Dance full time, and decided to move to Chennai for a while to study and practise the beautiful art form under the legendary Natyacharyas ’The Dhananjayans’. Having performed Solo Recitals in many Chennai Sabha’s such as Madras Music Academy and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, she then returned to Melbourne to start her own school in June 2019, named ’Natya Praana’ ('Dance is our Life Force'). Lakshanya is also a professional Bhangra dancer, and she runs multiple weekly in-studio and online classes teaching this Punjabi folk dance form. In addition, she co-founded and coaches the Bhangra team ‘Ranjhe’ which has competed in and won many national and international Bhangra competitions over the last few years.

26/04/2021

Dance Mela 2021 is coming online!!
This year's online event will showcase one artiste/group every day at 7pm commencing 29 April 2021 until 8 May 2021. Join us and the wonderful dancers to celebrate DANCE!!

12/11/2020

Hello everyone!

Thank you for your ongoing support for our artists as they have been taking to the online stage over the quarantine period.

We are excited to have our next Bharatanatyam recital on the 29th of November at 6:30 by Varsha from Art of Vinyasa.

Varsha has been learning Bharatanatyam for 16 years and completed her Arengetram under the guidance of Smt Sujatha Surendran in 2014. She has been a student at Art of Vinyasa for the last 5 years under the guidance of Smt. Meghala Bhat and Dr Vasundhara Doraswamy.

Varsha has a strong passion and interest towards understanding the roots of Indian culture and has been fortunate enough to learn Indian classical music for many years under the tutelage of Jayshree Ramachandran OAM. She has also been learning the violin for the last 4 years under the guidance of Sri Murali Kumar.

Please join us on Facebook Live at 6:30 on the 29th for this exciting recital!

25/10/2020

Apologies for the technical problem. The live stream will recommence in 30 mins. Thank You for your understanding

19/10/2020

Hello everyone! We are excited to continue our Dance'e'scape journey this month with Therma Katticaran taking to the online stage for a Mohinyattam recital!

Therma is the artistic director of Tanishka Temple of Indian Classical Dances, Melbourne, Australia. She has trained under the guidance of various gurus including Smt. Sunitha Sathesh, Late. Kalyanikutty amma and her daughter Smt. Sreedevi Rajan, Smt. Tara Rajkumar OAM and Dr. Sunanda Nair.
She has various accolades to her name including national winner for Yuva Utsav in Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi and Odissi.
She initiated her dream Tanishka temple of Indian Classical Dances in 2012 which is now in its eighth year of operation in Melbourne, Australia.

We are very excited to have Therma perform this coming Sunday! Stay tuned for more information.

11/07/2020

Hello! We are back again with another young talent from Melbourne!!

Firstly, GAFV would like to thank everyone who were able to join us for our first performance in the Danc'e'scape series last month.We really appreciate the love and support from everyone and hope we can have your continued support for the encouragement of the young and upcoming artists showcasing their talent through this platform.

I’m pleased to inform you that the performance for this month's Danc'e'scape will be by Tanvi Oza. Tanvi has been learning classical dance for 14 years and completed her Arangetram (Solo debut performance) in 2014 under the guidance of Smt. Sujatha Surendran. She joined Art of Vinyasa 4 years ago and has since continued her journey learning the nuances of this intricate art form under the tutelage of Smt. Meghala Bhat and Dr Vasundhara Doraswamy. Tanvi also has a passion for hindustani and western classical music, having learned western classical flute for the past 12 years and sitar for the past 3 years.

Please join us on Sunday, 26th of July at 6:30pm for this exciting facebook live concert!