Anandini Chandra Sekhar

Instructor/Choreographer/Director

Anandini Chandra Sekhar is the youngest daughter and student of Guru "Natya Veda Bharati" Sudha Chandra Sekhar. The third generation of dancers and musicians in her family, Anandini received further training from Guru T.K. Mahalingam Pillai, Guru K. Kalyanasundaram and Guru Karunambal of Sri Rajarajeshwari Bharata Natya Kala Mandir in the pristine Thanjavur style. She has been performing professionally since the age of 2, and teaching for over 20 years in various centers in Michigan, Chicago, New York and the Boston area. Currently she runs the Vidyanjali Dance School of New England in Burlington and Newton, Massachusetts and recently completed a full concert recital with Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre to introduce the ballet audiences to classical Indian dance. Anandini has some additional training in Kathak, Kuchipudi and Mohini Attam as well as ballet, jazz, tap, musical theatre, contemporary and African dance. Outside of dance, Anandini works in digital marketing and plays keyboards and sings with the popular local Bollywood band Din Check.

Guru Sudha Chandra Sekhar

Artistic Director, Hindu Temple Rhythms

Sudha's extensive experience dates back to 1943, when she first began her classical dance training in Manipuri and Kathak at the Rupatayan Institute in Bombay, India. She began studying Bharata Natyam in 1945 under the guidance of such greats as Sri Thiruvadamaradur Kuppiah Pillai, Guru A.T. Govindraj Pillai, Srimati Karunambal, Guru T.K. Mahalingam Pillai and Guru K. Kalyanasundaram, the renowned masters of the Sri Rajarajeshwari Bharata Natya Kalamandir. They trained her intensively in the Thanjavur style, as passed down from the great Panchapakesha Nattuvanaar, Guru Kuppiah Pillai's own great-grandfather and the author of the Abhinaya Navaneetham, a treatise on Bharata Natyam in the language Tamil. She has conducted 115 arangetrams and continues to teach and perform today. The Vidyanjali Dancers have the opportunity to participate in master classes with her when she visits Boston.