Nritya Sudha’s Hindu Temple Rhythms, a non-profit performing arts organization, was created in 1958.
Nritya Sudha’s Hindu Temple Rhythms, a non-profit organization, was created in 1958. Founded by Sudha Chandra Sekhar’s parents, Smt. Jaya and the Shri Vaideeswara Doraiswamy in Mumbai, India, the organization was created for the Doraiswamy’s only daughter. The organization relocated to Windsor, Ont., Canada in 1967, following the marriage of Artistic Director/Choreographer, Sudha, to Sankarnarayan Chandra Sekhar, an executive of General Motors Corp. and an untiring promoter of the performing arts and culture of India. After starting a family, the Chandra Sekhars moved to Oak Park, Michigan in 1978 with their three daughters Vidya, Anjali and Anandini where they have continued their promotion, preservation and dissemination of the classical arts of India.
Nritya Sudha is known for classical Indian dance and music in Southeastern Michigan and in artistic communities in the U.S., Canada and India. Sudha Chandra Sekhar, the moving spirit behind the organization, has spent more than 50 years in the study, performance and promotion of the sacred dances and music of India. This includes her passion for Bharata Natyam, as well as Kuchipudi, Kathak and Manipuri. She also has passed this passion to her daughters, who now help with the organization’s activities. Vidya is the internationally-renowned holder of a 72-hour world record for continuous performance of Bharata Natyam, which was done in aid of the American Heart Association and the Bharatiya Temple in 1996. This feat followed an earlier 48-hour record in aid of the American Cancer Society in 1989.
Nritya Sudha also presents more than 30 performances a year featuring its students. Tandav, a production during Mahasivarathri, has been a regular offering since 1996. The students are also presented as the Vidyanjali Dancers by the International Institute of Metro Detroit regularly throughout the year. Nritya Sudha has presented 111 students in Arangetrams, their formal dance debuts. These programs included a live orchestra, the Vidyanjali Orchestra, featuring Sudha and Vidya Chandra Sekhar on vocals and nattuvangam, Vasanta Srinivasan and Gopal Venkatraman singing vocal refrains , and well-known artists such as Srikant and Lakshmi Venkatraman, Jayshankar Balan, Bhargavi Sunderraj, Narayan Raman, Mahesh Iyer, Akshaya Rajkumar, Suresh and Srinivas Doraiswamy, Suresh Ramachandran, Prakash Rao, Srinivas Pejathaya, Indresh Makhtal, M.S. Sukhi, S. Jeyasingham, Prabha Thayalan, Bhanumathi Chari, Anuradha Challa, Radhika Vadari, Sudha’s late mother Jaya Doraiswamy, Ram Nath, Sunitha Grandhee and Sreeragam Sarma.
Nritya Sudha's Hindu Temple Rhythms 