NrItiyalaya School of Dance

Impart quality training and pass on the rich heritage of bharatanatyam to the next generation

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About Nrityalaya

Nrityalaya School of Dance was founded by Vidyalakshmi Vinod in 2002 in greater Seattle area to teach students the ancient Indian classical dance, Bharatanatyam. The school strives to impart quality dance education and disciplined
training to its students and help them grow into professional classical dancers. Through its extremely talented group of staff and dancers, the school has been able to carve a niche for itself in Seattle with its unique
choreography for various fund raisers, outreach programs and original productions like 'Ode to the Indian Goddess' (Shree Matre Namaha) and 'Righteousness' (Dharmo Rakshathi Rakshitaha).

Mission

Impart quality training and pass on the rich heritage of bharatanatyam to the next generation

Develop students of dance par excellence.

Create an awareness among the community regarding this art form.

About Us

Vidyalakshmi Vinod

Artistic Director and Founder, Nrityalaya Dance

Vidyalakshmi Vinod is a highly accomplished dancer, dedicated teacher and an excellent choreographer. She is a senior disciple of Padmashri Chitra Visweswaran who is a well known doyen in this field of art. Due to her passion for this art, Vidya founded Nrityalaya school of Dance in the state of Washington, USA in 2002 with the sole aim of carrying this wonderful ancient art forward to future generations. Over the decades, Vidya has choreographed numerous dance pieces for her graduate students. Her presentation of dance technique is a great inspiration and fascination to dancers and students. Vidya has conceptualized, choreographed and directed two dance dramas ‘Shree Matre Namaha’ (2010) and ‘Dharmo Rakshathi Rakshitaha’ (June 2012) in Seattle which were both huge successes and were well received and reviewed by the audience

Tara Ramanan & Haritha Parupudi

Outreach Programs and Faculty

Tara Ramanan is from Chennai and started learning Bharatanatyam at the age of 5. She completed her arangetram at age of 12 and participated in several performances through high school and college. After a break from dancing to pursue a career as a Software Engineer, she restarted her classical dance training with Nrityalaya Dance. She is now one of the primary teachers at Nrityalaya Dance.

Haritha Parupudi lives in Kirkland, WA. Haritha started learning Bharatanatyam at the age of 7 from Smt Kappu Jaykumar and when her guru moved to India, Harita began her dance journey with her current guru Smt Vidyalakashmi Vinod. She completed her arangetram in 2014 and is now an active performer and teacher at Nrityalaya Dance.

Vidyalakshmi Vinod

Knowledge Management and Faculty

Teaching Assistants

  • Ananya 
  • Prisha Kuberan
  • Varshnee 
  • Joshitha
  • Shruthi
  • Sradha Padiyath
  • Madhumitha
  • Mythri
  • Ankita
  • Meera Krishnan
  • Aishwarya 
  • Ghanishka
  • Joshika
  • Khrishaa

Upcoming Event

Nrityalaya Dance presents 'Balakandam fom Sage Valmiki's Ramayanam. Lord Rama, an avataram of Vishnu, is considered as the ideal human being - an obedient son, a  loving brother, an inspirational king, and much more . Balakandam is explored deeper in the light of Advaita and Dvaita philosophies of Hinduism.        

Balakandam 2:30pm (Sold Out)

Balakandam 5:15pm

  

Productions

Nama:shivaaya

Our production is in praise of the Hindu Trinity God – ‘Shiva’. Shiva performing the functions of ‘Srishti’ – Creation, ‘Sthithi’ - Preservation, ‘Samhaaram’ -Destruction and ‘Anugraham’ - Protection is described using verses from the Tevaram, Sivananda Lahari and Sivapuranam

Dashavataram

Nrityalaya Dance presents 'Dashavataram' - the 10 incarnations of the Hindu diety Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu is considered as the preserver of the universe and his various avatars are explored deeper in the light of Advaita and Dvaita philosophies of Hinduism.

Pancha Mahabhutham

According to Hindu Philosophy there are five perceptible primitive elements without which matter and energy would not exist. These are Space (Akasha), Air (Vayu), Fire (Agni), Water ( Jala), and Earth (Prithvi). In Sanskrit, they are referred to as Pancha Mahabhutham. These five elements are believed to have originated from Brahman – the one and only eternal singularity, depicting supreme sentience or consciousness. Therefore, the existence of everything present around and beyond human parameters, can be attributed to the five elements.

Dharmo Rakshathi Rakshitaha

Dharmo Rakshathi Rakhitaha is a dance ballet about ‘Righteousness’ or the quality of what is morally right or justifiable according to Hindu Dharma. Episodes from the Ramayana, story of Shibhi Chakravaorthy, effects of our actions in current times are portrayed to show the importance of following the principles of righteousness. Verses from the Hindu Puranas have been used for the stories.

Shree Matre Namaha

Shree Matre Namaha is a production in praise of the Hindu Goddess ‘Devi’ in relation with the three ‘Gunas’ - Sattva, Rajas and Tamas which makes the essence of all things. Devi as the embodiment of the three Gunas is shown though various stories from the Hindu scriptures. Verses from the Devi Mahathmiyam have been used to portray the stories.

Graduate Performances of Nrityalaya

  • Sashwatha Shankar and Shradha Shankar
  • Aashika Vishwanath
  • Netra Krishnan
  • Meena Kuduva and Shruthi Vasudha 
  • Nithya Subramanian and Kanika Saravanan
  • Tanvi Ranganathan and Oviya Krishnan
  • Keerthana Udaykumar
  • Neha Venkatesh
  • Shushmitha Radjaram
  • Shreya Shaji
  • Harshitha Musunuri
  • Uma Nambiar 
  • Tanvi Ganapathy 
  • Kavya Selvakumar
  • Kavya Selvakumar
  • Akhilesh Vadari
  • Gayatri Nair & Raveena Nair
  • Riya Thomas
  • Vineeta Parupudi
  • Sahiti Malladi
  • Haritha Parupudi 
  • Meghana Noonavath
  • Madhavi Narayanan
  • Anusha Kukreja
  • Nikhila Sridhar
  • Sharanya Sarathy

Contact Us

425-241-5425

vidya@nrityalayadance.net