Bharatalaya Academy was founded in 1973 by Dr. Chandrabhanu, whose illustrious career as a professional dance artist spans over thirty years of creative and pioneering work. He has performed to high acclaim in India, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, The Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, USA, Great Britain and the Netherlands. The program has taken Asian dance to thousands of schools in
metropolitan and regional Australia. In 1986, Dr. Chandrabhanu established the Bharatam Dance Company, a professional dance ensemble that toured locally and internationally for 15 years. During that time, Dr. Chandrabhanu produced over 50 full-length Bharatanatyam, Odissi and cross-cultural contemporary dance works. In its time, it contributed to the development of dance in Australia from a multi-cultural perspective and created careers in dance for artists from all walks of life.
20 years later, he established Jambudvipa in 2006, a production company to undertake a diversity of dance and music presentations. In addition to conducting regular productions, Dr. Chandrabhanu has been artistic director of several community dance projects, including those for the City of Melbourne and the City of Fairfield (Sydney). He has been artist-in-residence at several universities and held two fellowships at UNIMAS, Sarawak, Malaysia. He was a member of the Australia Council Dance Committee for three years. More recently he has been invited to teach at the National Arts Academy of Malaysia in Kula Lumpur annually. In addition he presents papers and lecturers regularly for several arts organisations and at university seminars. Chandrabhanu was a recipient of the prestigious Monash University Graduate Scholarship and holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree (1981) in Social Anthropology.
