Are you interested in Dance, Music, Ancient Arts Education? Diya teaches advanced practitioners of Bharata Natyam from her extensive repertoire in the Seattle area as part of the From Within Dance Academy. Online, she teaches the 100-Padam Challenge and solo lessons for vintage items and new specialized choreography.
For further information or to contact Diya, write to info@srividya.us
About Vidya
Sri Vidya Chandra Sekhar, Miss India USA 1986, and Miss Michigan State Fair 1984, holds 2 World Records for Longest Solo Classical Dance Performance, through which she fund-raised thousands of dollars to benefit the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society. Representing the next generation in a lineage of dancers and musicians from India, the Canadian-born singer, dancer and writer, is an advanced dance educator and musical performer for Hindu Temple Rhythms, celebrating almost 50 years of Bharata Natyam education in North America.
In 2013, Vidya, fondly called Diya, was bestowed with the title of Natya Kala Shiromani from His Holiness Swami Sachidananda Tirthji Maharaj of Sri Chakra Maha Meru Peedam, Bilaspur, for her continued study of Natya Yoga, and Sangeetha shastra and her dedication, support, research, and presentation of the classical art of Bharata Natyam. She previously received the titles of Natya Yogi, in 1996 for her world record performance, and the title of Nritya Meera, at the Conference of World Religions from the late Sant Keshavadas, in 1976.
Through years of vigorous and tireless training on two continents, under the supervision of the Grand Masters of Tiruvidaimarudur technique from Sri Rajarajeshwari Bharata Natya Kala Mandir, including the award-winning late T.K. Mahalingam Pillai, Diya’s repertoire now consists of over 500 items of the traditional repertoire, ranging from abhinaya-intensive numbers made popular in the 1950’s by legends such as Balasaraswati to innovative nritta-technique numbers researched and brought to the stage for the first time in the 1950’s and 1960’s by her own legendary mother, “Natya Veda Bharati”, Smt. Sudha Chandra Sekhar (formerly: Sudha Doraiswamy).
Some of these items from the highly spiritually charged snake dance to the ancient temple ritual kavuthwams (recovered in research and staged in the 1950’s by her mother Sudha in collaboration with grandmaster T. Kuppiah Pillai), have now found residence in popular recital fare, while others, such as age-old javalis, padams, and sacred Vedic Hymns, have remained arcane and unexposed to stages worldwide. Diya’s focus has thus been to identify eager artists to absorb and rescue all this material and carry it into the future. Most recently, Diya has kicked off an online class called the 100 Padam Challenge, in which a small group of participants learn one-hundred separate expressional songs, exploring choreography and history, as they collaborate with Vidya online. She also teaches special items from her expansive repertoire for Seattle’s Bharata Natyam establishment, From Within Academy.
For more information, visit her personal website here.
Nritya Sudha's Hindu Temple Rhythms 