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Training
An exponent of three different Indian classical dance
forms - Bharatanatyam,
Kuchipudi and Odissi,
Mythili Kumar's commanding stage presence speaks of
many years of rigorous training under skilled teachers
in India. Her gurus were Smt. Indra Rajan, Sri T. R.
Devanathan and Smt. Kalanidhi Narayanan for Bharatanatyam,
Sri Vedantam Jagannatha Sarma for Kuchipudi, and Guru
Srinath Raut and Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra for Odissi.
At present, Mythili is a performer, choreographer, and
teacher primarily in the Bharatanatyam
style.
An accomplished artiste, Mythili performed extensively in India before moving to the U.S in 1978. She has trained and presented over eighty dancers in their solo debut performance (arangetram) and has toured with the company to India and other parts of the U.S. Mythili Kumar has taught Indian dance at Stanford University and San Jose State University. She currently teaches a fall semester course at University of California, Santa Cruz.
Awards
- Choreographers Fellowships
from the National Endowment for the Arts, 1989-1993
- Individual Artist Grant
from the Arts Council of Santa Clara County , 1988
- Outstanding Artist Award
from the Federation of Indo-American Assoc, September
1990
- Choreographers Commission
from the Bay Area Fund for Dance, 1992
- Distinguished Artist Award
from the City of Cupertino, 1992
- Choreographers Fellowship
from the Arts Council of Santa Clara County, 1993
- Ethnic Dance Festival
Honoree for outstanding contribution to world
dance,1994
- Teachers Recognition Certificate
from the National Assoc. for Advancement in the Arts,
1998
- Titles - Singar Mani,
Natya Traya Kovida,
and Nritya Bharati awarded
by cultural organizations in India
- Abhinaya Kala Ratna
by the Hindu Temple Livermore, 2002
- Mythili was nominated for a Bay
Area Woman of Achievement Award in 1998
- In 1999, Mythili received the award of Vishwa
Kala Bharati from Bharat Kalachar, a cultural
organisation based in Madras, for her outstanding
contribution to Indian culture abroad
Notable Performances
- Solo performance in Atlanta, Georgia in February
2004
- Solo performance piece on Jagriti
- Awakening, portraying stories of women and
domestic violence
- Performed to Chitra Divakaruni's poem Sudha's
story in 1998
- Acclaimed performance of Gandhi-the
Mahatma in Portland, Oregon in 1995, and at
the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco in 1997
- Visions of the Goddess
, a performance in conjunction with the exhibition
on Women-Auspicious and Divine, at the Asian Art Museum,
San Francisco in 1990
- 12 US and Canadian city tour of The
Rhythm of Life in 1989
- Madras Music Academy Lecture on Aspects
of Siva-Tandava in 1986
- 16 US and Canadian city tour of Papanasam Sivan's
Rama Charita Geetam
in 1984
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'For a long time now, one had not witnessed
a Bharatanatyam recital with a touch of
rarity and class, marked by style and substance
as the performance by Mythili Kumar... A
grand evening with a great dancer.'
- The Times of India
''A winsome figure, astonishing precision,
showmanship and expressive eyes, all these
and more went to mark Mythili as a gifted
dancer with an assured place in the field
of Bharatanatyam.'
- The Hindu
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