Bhavanvitha Venkatesh

🪔 About

Bhuvana Venkatesh is a Bharathanatyam dancer, choreographer, and teacher, and the founder and artistic director of Nrithya Nivedhan School of Dance. She began her Bharathanatyam training at the age of five under 'Saahithya Shiromani' Guru Smt. Prabha Nagarajan. Her solo debut performance took place in 1986 at the Mylapore Fine Arts Academy in Chennai, India. She has performed extensively in various cultural centers and dance festivals in both India and the United States, where she currently resides. During her undergraduate years, she trained over 100 dance students while managing her Guru's institution, Lalitha Kala Nilayam, in Chennai, after her Guru moved to the US. Venkatesh was a software engineer at Wipro in India and later at IBM in Silicon Valley for over a decade before dedicating herself full-time to her passion for dance and teaching. She has choreographed more than 100 traditional Bharathanatyam dance repertoire items over the past 15 years. She has also trained in the basic elements of Karanas, Bharathanrithyam repertoire from Guru Smt. A. Vadivu Devi, a disciple of Dr. Padma Subramaniam, and is currently learning Odissi dance under Guru Smt. Niharika Mohanty since 2020. Awards & Honours: City of San Jose's Commendation award (2017).