Deepa Preetinatarajan

🪔 About

Deepa Natarajan is a Bharatanatyam dancer and teacher, currently based in Portland, Oregon. She dedicated a decade to assisting Aggie Brenneman in teaching dance classes before her relocation to Portland in 2020. Deepa is an alumna of Boston University and spent her formative years in Ohio, where she was raised in a Tamilian family. Her early dance education was diverse, encompassing training in ballet, modern, and West African dance forms, though Bharatanatyam was not part of her initial curriculum. She commenced her formal study of Bharatanatyam with Aggie Brenneman in Oakland, California. Her training was further enriched by studying with Smt. Shyamala in Chennai, India, a city significant to her family's heritage. In 2011, Deepa marked a significant milestone in her dance journey by performing her Arangetram, a traditional solo graduation performance presented with a group of live musicians. Since relocating to Portland, Deepa serves as the Admissions Director for the Arbor School. She is also deeply engaged with the Sangati Center for South Asian Music, an organization established by her husband, Carnatic vocalist Gautam Tejas Ganeshan. Deepa finds joy in teaching and has taken the lead in developing a program for the youngest dancers at the Bala Center for South Indian Dance, where she continues to teach alongside Aggie Brenneman. This program emphasizes the rich narrative traditions embedded within Bharatanatyam, contributing to the preservation and introduction of this ancient art form to new generations. Aggie Brenneman, her guru, has a long history of teaching Bharatanatyam, having initiated a program at Park Day School in Oakland that reached over 500 students and now serves as a docent at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum. Deepa's involvement with the Bala Center reflects her commitment to continuing this legacy of dance education.