Creative Team
Dr. Aparna Sindhoor: Performer/Choreographer/Director/Writer
S M Raju: Writer/Director
Anil Natyaveda: Performer/Choreographer/Director
Isaac Thomas Kottukapally: Composer
George Brooks: Composer
Aparna Sindhoor is the Artistic Director of SINDHOOR & NATYAVEDA – Navarasa Dance Theater (www.navarasa.org). She creates a unique style of dance-theater inspired by stories of people’s movement for social justice. She is a recipient of California Arts Council’s Individual Artist Fellowship for 2022. She was an artist in residency at the Bates Dance Festival, East West Players, Asian Art Museum, Teesri Duniya, Wellesley College, Brandies University and UCSB. She has worked with Oscar winner Anthony Dod Mantle and Cirque du soleil famed Franco Dragone’. Sindhoor started training in music with her father Prof. Balasubramanyam and in dance with her mother Dr. Srivalli and continued with legendary, Dr. Venkatalakshamma and Dr. Lalitha Srinivasan. She is a Gold medalist in Dance from the Mysore University and has a PhD in Dance and Cultural Studies (Boston University.) She is also trained in yoga, Kalarippayattu martial arts, music and acting. She has received National Performers Network creation award, “ShaktiDhama-woman-the-year-award” and nominated for LA Stage Alliance Ovation and Kerala State Film choreography. “Dance-for-Everyone,” a program she co-created offers free training India and USA.
“Sindhoor’s choreography … grounds her work in the form's [Bharatanatyam] basic vocabulary and style – But she also embraces Indian martial arts, yoga moves, theatrical gesture, and a modern dancer's eye for space to create dances that seem both old and new.” - Boston Globe
“I have never seen anything quite like Aparna Sindhoor's company, Navarasa Dance Theatre, in action. There is not only a fusing of dance and theatre, here, but even within the different arts an explosive fusion of cultures. The dance is definitely rooted in the traditional, but they have incorporated into the movement elements from occidental modern dance (there is a stunning pas de deux that would be at home with Alvin Ailey's company) and even more eclectic suggestions than that.” Gaëtan L. Charlebois’s review
Anil Natyaveda, Co-Director of SINDHOOR & NATYAVEDA – Navarasa Dance Theater (www.navarasa.org) is a choreographer, dancer, teacher, and a martial artist (kalari ppayattu) from Triuvanathapuram, India. He is one of leading exponents of Kalari ppayattu in the world. He is a recipient of Alliance for California Traditional Arts grant (2021). He has performed all over the world including at the Bates Dance Festival, Lincoln Center, Asian American Theater Festival, USA and Edinburgh Dance Festival, Germany International Summer Theatre Festival, Hong Kong Art Festival and Khajuraho Festival. He has also performed and taught dance classes in USA, Canada, and Germany. He choreographed for Euripides’ play at the Theater Arts Program at the Brandeis University. Natyaveda has also choreographed for Indian films and for Franco Dragone’s circus show in Germany. Natyaveda is trained in classical dance forms and in contemporary and aerial dance forms. He has a degree in dance from Sree Swathithirunal Music College, India. Anil has trained in classical dance forms and has also trained in contemporary and aerial dance forms with renowned teachers. He was nominated for Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Award for Choreography. He is the winner of Kerala State Guru Gopinath Trust, India, Natyaratnam award, Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute award for his contribution to Indian arts, and the India Darshan National Integration Award (Malanadu News) for his contribution to movement arts and arts in society. (www.mykalari.org)
“Fanciful folk tales and tantalizing aerial feats. dynamic and athletic male dancer, Anil Natyaveda. – Boston Globe
S M Raju hails from India and was a successful computer scientist in the USA where he did his graduate studies. He worked as a senior researcher in Verizon Labs and then went to start Knumi, a venture funded startup. He has two US patents to his credit. His passion for film and theater led him to write, direct and produce several theaters works for Navarasa Dance Theater (www.navarasa.org). He has served as a board member of Yantra Media, a TV production house. He has produced educational videos for school children for the government of Tamilnadu and children’s content for the home video market. He is also a multiple winner of the James Baldwin playwright award.
He was one of the Executive Producers of Anandabhadram, a Malayalam feature film (anandhabhadram.com). Varnam is his (varnamthefilm.com) film directional debut where he explores universal themes of prejudice, faith and forgiveness in an Indian context that is caught at the crossroads of globalization and feudal traditions. Varnam released in India in and was officially selected for London Asian Film Festival and Montreal World Film Festival.
Isaac Thomas Kottukapally, a graduate of the Film and Television Institute (FTII), Pune, India, was an award-winning Producer, Director and Music Director of ad films, documentaries, and feature films. He was also one of the founders of the Malayalam TV channel Asianet. He has composed music for numerous ad films, short features, documentaries and more than 30 State, National, and International Award-winning feature films in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Assamese, Hindi and English for directors like the Late G Aravindan, Adoor Gopalkrishnan, Shaji Karun, T.V. Chandran, Girish Kasarvalli, Kavitha Lankesh, Janaki Viswanathan, S.M. Raju, and Madhu Ambat. He was the winner of the National and State award for Best Music in Indian film in 2011. Sadly, Isaac passed away in 2021 but he has left a great legacy of outstanding music both for Navarasa and the larger community.
George Brooks is an award-winning saxophonist and composer, acclaimed for successfully bridging the worlds of jazz and Indian classical music. He is the founder of seminal Indian fusion groups Summit with Zakir Hussain; Bombay Jazz with Ronu Majumdar and Larry Coryell; Raga Bop Trio with Steve Smith and Prasanna; Kirwani Quartet with Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia and Elements with Kala Ramnath and Gwyneth Wentink. Brooks has collaborated extensively with American composer Terry Riley and has performed with genre defining artists Etta James, Anthony Braxton, Jaki Byard, Talvin Singh, Kronos Quartet, The Temptations, Michael McClure and Ray Manzarek. He appears regularly at major festivals throughout India and was a featured soloist on John McLaughlin’s 2008 Grammy nominated “Floating Point” CD. As a composer, Brooks has received commissions from the American Composers Forum, EnActe Arts, Mosaic America, Opera Piccola, Intermusic SF, Arts International, California Jazz Conservatory, USArtists, New Music USA, Real Vocal String Quartet, SFMOMA, Met Life Creative Connections and Gwyneth Wentink who premiered his solo harp composition, “The Alchemy of Happiness” at the 2013 Gaudeamus Muziekweek. His compositions have been performed by Yo-Yo Ma, members of the Liverpool Philharmonic, and can be heard in the Merchant/Ivory film, “The Mystic Masseur”. "The music on this recording has blown me away. Brooks plays the saxophone with a tone, rhythmic concept and harmonic concept that sounds totally new to my ears. The result is one of the most exciting saxophones records I have ever heard." Saxophone Journal