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The Teacher

Dance is life for Prasanna Thothadri who is the youngest daughter of Guru Smt. Malathy Thothadri, Founder,director Kalasagara Academy of performing arts, Chennai. She started training in Bharatanatyam even before she started talking fluently.

Prasanna performed at the age of 3 in front of an august audience and won wide appreciation. She emerged as Goddess Meenakshi from the "Agni Kundam" and enthralled the audience with her graceful dance movements. Ever since, she has been participating in all major dance dramas and thematic presentations of Kalasagara. 

She performed her Arangetram in 1999. She performs regularly during the Dance festival in Chennai. She has also performed in Sabhas in other places such as Kolkatta, Pudukkottai, Devakottai, Chidambaram, Tirupathi, Pollachi, Kanchipuram, Trichy, Tanjavur and Nagapattinam. She has the following performances to her credit.

Solo presentation during the dance festivals:

  • Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha.

  • Rasika Ranjani Sabha.

  • Mylapore Fine Arts Club.

  • Pollachi Tamil Isai Sangam.

  • Salangai Oli Trust.

  • Nritayanjali Trust.

  • Sri Kapali Fine Arts.

  • Music connoisseurs club.

  • Bharata Vidhya bhavan.

  • Nungambakkam cultural Academy.

  • Pushpanjali Trust .

  • Thyaga Brahma Gana sabha.

  • Karthik fine arts.

  • Mudra fine arts festival .

  • Natyanjali.

  • Natyarangam, and many more

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Group presentations:

  • Chidambaram Natyanjali Dance Festival.

  • Brahan Natyanjali Thanjavur.

  • Pollachi Tamil Isai Sangam.

  • Sri Kapali Fine Arts.

  • Devakkottai kandar Sashti Vizha.

  • Pudukkottai Samasthanam.

  • Kanchi Mutt.

  • Vadapalani Murugan temple - Kandar Sashti Vizha.

  • TTD Brahmotsavam Festival.

  • Government of India 50th Independence Day Golden Jubilee Celebrations..

             

                       She has also taken part in several corporate events presented by Kalasagara. She has been a regular performer at school and college and has won prizes in several inter-school and intercollegiate competitions. She has choreographed and performed contemporary dances for school and college functions and those have been greatly received.


                      Her performance as Goddess Kali in the french play "Vikatakavi" presented by L'Alliance Francais de Madras won rave reviews from the public. Prasanna has a passion towards volunteering and done a lot of fund raising shows to serve her community. One such remarkable fund raising show was 'Azhwargalin anubhavam', a dance drama to raise funds for the destitutes of Udavum Karangal in the year 2009. She has choreographed and executed thematic presentations such as RamaKrishnau Upasmahe, Ramanamaamrutham.


                    Prasanna has also had training in carnatic vocal music to help her understand and appreciate dance better. She has given vocal concerts at the VDS Arts Academy and has also performed at the High gate Hill Murugan temple in London and Mandapa, a cultural organization at Paris.     

                     

                      With a bachelors degree in English Literature, Prasanna has her masters degree in Bharatanatyam  from the prestigious University of Madras. She has had the advantage of getting trained under many more famous gurus like Smt. Krishnakumari Narendran, Smt. Lakshmi Ramaswamy, Swarnamalya Ganesh and Smt. Indu Varma.  

                         

                      After coming to Sarnia in 2010, Prasanna has been actively engaging kids and ladies to participate in different cultural events. She started her own school in 2011. The students perform at various events organised by the Indo-Canada association and Sarnia Hindu society. They have been participating at various talent shows and at MAC night. Prasanna and her students participate every year at the art walk and Canada Day celebrations. Not only Bharatanatyam, Prasanna has been doing workshops in teaching Bollywood classical and other folk forms. 

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