Dancer · Choreographer · Founder
Mrudula Ravi
Two decades of Bharatanatyam, distilled into a life of performing, choreographing and teaching, and into an institute that bears her conviction that art deserves a home.
Portrait to come The journey
Shaped by gurus, proven on stage
Mrudula grew up in Bengaluru, and Bharatanatyam grew up with her. What began as a child's classes became more than twenty years of unbroken training, first under Vid. Smt. Shubha Balasubramanya, and later under Natyacharya Guru Kiran Subramanyam and Guru Sandhya Kiran, two of the most respected names in the field.
That long apprenticeship was formally sealed with the Vidwat (proficiency) examination of the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board, the state's highest qualification in the art. On stage she moves between demanding solo margams and intricately woven group productions with equal ease; off stage, her choreography has earned prizes for the institutions that commissioned it.
- Gurus
- Vid. Smt. Shubha Balasubramanya
- Natyacharya Guru Kiran Subramanyam & Guru Sandhya Kiran
- Qualification
- Vidwat, Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board
- Repertoire
- Solo margams · Group productions · Original choreography
- Founded
- kalāgr̥hm · Dance & Music Institute, 2018
Samidha: production still Signature work
Samidha
ಸಮಿಧಾ
A samidhā is the offering placed into the sacred fire. Mrudula chose the word deliberately for her self-choreographed solo production: an evening-length meditation on Advaita Tattva, the philosophy of non-dualism, rendered entirely through the vocabulary of Bharatanatyam.
Conceived, choreographed and performed by her, Samidha has been staged in Holenarasipura and Bengaluru, the rare kind of work in which the dancer, the dance and the idea refuse to be told apart.
Notable stages
Where the art has travelled
- 01
Shravanabelagola
Dancing in the shadow of one of Karnataka’s oldest sacred sites.
- 02
VRC Dance & Music Academy
Invited performances before practitioners and connoisseurs.
- 03
Uttaradi Matha, Mysuru
Classical repertoire offered in a traditional setting.
- 04
Rajarajeshwari Cultural Association
A stage close to home, and close to the heart.
Beyond the stage
An artist of this century
The classical arts are carried forward by people who can speak to the present. Mrudula is one of them.
Engineer
Trained in engineering, the source of the structure and precision that mark both her choreography and her teaching.
Paper Play
Co-founder of a social media and content studio in Bangalore, building the same craft for brands that she brings to the stage.
Laya Within
Co-founder of a corporate wellness practice built on yoga and Natyashastra, helping teams unwind stress the way dancers do: through the body.
Talk of Town
Co-founder of a podcast studio, because tradition thrives when someone keeps the conversation going.
Portfolio
In performance
Portfolio photograph to come Portfolio photograph to come Portfolio photograph to come Portfolio photograph to come Portfolio photograph to come Portfolio photograph to come Learn from her, in person
Mrudula teaches Bharatanatyam at kalāgr̥hm, Rajarajeshwari Nagar, for beginners onwards.