Leda Shantala

🪔 About

Leda Shantala is a Greek choreographer, dancer, and guru of Indian classical dance, Bharatanatyam, credited with introducing the art form to Greek audiences. She is also a teacher of yoga and a dance therapist. Shantala pursued extensive studies in India, graduating from the Bharata Kalanjali dance academy and the Abhinaya Sudha school in Chennai. Her Bharatanatyam gurus include eminent figures such as Sri Adyar Lakshman, V. P. Dhananjayan, Smt. Shantha Dhananjayan, and Smt. Kalanidhi Narayanan. She also studied Carnatic music, focusing on song, rhythm (tallams), and the art of rhythmic syllables (sholus). Her arangetram, or debut performance, took place on April 24, 1983, at the Anantapadmanabha Swami temple in Adyar, Chennai. Beyond dance, Shantala is deeply knowledgeable in yoga and Indian philosophy, having studied with teachers like T.K.V. Desikatchar and B.K.S. Iyengar, and graduating from Kaivalya Dhama in Lonavla. Her meditation guru is Chandra Swami Udasin. In 1985, she founded the Mandiram Cultural Centre, an institution dedicated to research in ancient Greek and Indian art, where she taught yoga and Bharatanatyam. In 1987, she established the Leda Shantala Dance Theatre, which has produced numerous intercultural performances blending Bharatanatyam with contemporary dance and ancient Greek art forms. In 2003, the activities of the Mandiram Centre were transferred to the new Shantom House of Culture in Athens, which hosts the only professional Bharatanatyam Academy in Greece. Shantala's theoretical research explores the ancient relationship between Greek "Musike" and Bharatanatyam, and the roots of dance movement therapy in India and Greece. She has authored a book on Bharatanatyam and is currently working on the Patanjali Yoga Sutras. Awards & Honours: 60 Legends (2022).