Mythili Kumar
Mythili Kumar is a dancer, teacher, and choreographer. She performs the Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, and Odissi styles of Indian classical dance.[1] Founder of Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose[2][3] and she is a lecturer in dance at University of California, Santa Cruz.[4]
Biography
[edit]As founder and Director of Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose since 1980,[1][5] she has trained and presented over one hundred dancers in their solo debuts and has collaborated extensively with several multi-cultural organizations.[6] She has also taught classes at San Jose State University and Stanford University.[4]
Kumar's two daughter's, Rasika and Malavika are active in the dance company and have been trained in classical Indian dance since age 4.[7]
Collaborative performances include:
- The Guru with Kathak maestro Chitresh Das and his dance company,
- In the Spirit (1993) with Japanese drumming corps San Jose Taiko, with Margaret Wingrove and her modern dance company;
- The Ramayana (1997) with the Balinese music and dance ensemble Gamelan Sekar Jaya and
- Vande Mataram - Mother, I bow to thee (1997) featuring three different Indian classical dance styles;
- The Power of Saturn (1999) with Shadow Master Larry Reed and Shadow Light Productions
- Gandhi - the Mahatma (1995) for the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.
Awards
[edit]In 2010 she was awarded the Malonga Casquelourd Lifetime Achievement Award by San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival.[6] Kumar received the choreographer's fellowships from 1989 until 1993 and a teacher's recognition certificate in 1998 from the National Endowment for the Arts.[4]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b "San Jose South Indian Dancer and Teacher Honored for Lifetime Service". KQED Arts. Retrieved 2017-09-07.
- ^ Howard, Rachel (April 9, 2015) [April 9, 2015]. "San Jose South Indian Dancer and Teacher Honored for Lifetime Service | KQED". www.kqed.org. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Ts'ao, Aimée (October 31, 2018). "Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose focuses new work on Martin Luther King Jr". The Mercury News. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c "Mythili Kumar". UC Santa Cruz, Theatre Department. Retrieved 2017-09-07.
- ^ "Passions: Mountain View woman is software engineer, also classical Indian dancer". The Mercury News. 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2017-09-07.
- ^ a b "Custodians of Tradition - India Currents". India Currents. 2010-08-05. Retrieved 2017-09-07.
- ^ "Dance company kicks off its 30th anniversary season celebration". The Mercury News. 2010-03-29. Retrieved 2017-09-07.
Notes
[edit]- "Dancer enlivens Indian culture", San Jose Mercury News, April 13, 1990.
- "Dance teacher to get award from Cupertino", San Jose Mercury News, September 16, 1992.
- "The muse that makes her dance: Mythili Kumar keeps her Indian heritage alive in a land of pop and pizza", San Jose Mercury News, February 15, 1998.
- "Los Gatans honored as women of achievement", Los Gatos Weekly-Times, November 11, 1998.
- Kaplan, Shari (January 27, 1999), "Dramatic Gesture: Mythili Kumar shares Indian traditions with the art of the dance", Saratoga News.
- "Nurturing an Indian tradition in the Bay Area: how three teachers used varied approaches to an art form that takes years to master", San Jose Mercury News, November 15, 2003.
- "Keeping classical dance traditions alive - the Abhinaya Dance Company", Water, No Ice, November 15, 2008.