2025 – 45 years of classical Indian dance and music in Switzerland
Nine-month Indian dance and music festival with various events and numerous dance and music artists on the occasion of 45 years of classical Indian dance and music art in Switzerland, initiated by Vijaya Rao, founder and director of the Nateschwara Dance & Music Academy in Baden, Switzerland.
‘NAVARATHNA’ (9 Gems): 9 Dancers present 9 Kautuams, 9 Manifestations of Shiva (Navarupa)
With Vijaya Rao and the Nateschwara Dancers Sowjanya Pulavarthy, Tanvi Nair, Sarvishta Mehta, Manisha Vasumithran, Arushi Bhattacharya, Iniya Umamagheswaran, Vidya Thayoor and the guest dancers Rashmitha Nair, Vineetha R and Pranitha Kamat.
More about the protagonists, please see below!
@ Nateschwara Theatre, on Saturday, 15.03.2025, 18:00 hrs – Premiere
Tickets: please click here
The Musicians
The Dancers
Together with Vijaya Rao and the Nateschwara Dancers Sowjanya Pulavarthy, Tanvi Nair, Sarvishta Mehta, Manisha Vasumithran, Iniya Umamagewaran, Vidya Thayoor and Arushi Bhattacharya, guest dancers Rashmita Nair, Vineetha R and Pranitha Kamat will also perform.
Sowjanya Pulavarthy
Sowjanya was born in Nasik, Maharashtra, where she spent the first five years of her life. After moving to Switzerland with her parents, she completed her Ranga Pravesha under Vijaya Rao in 2022 after studying at the Nateschwara Academy for 10 years. Sowjanya has since performed at several events together with the Nateschwara Dancers.
Tanvi Nair
Tanvi was born in India. She moved to Switzerland with her parents in 2004, where she is now a naturalised citizen and lives in Nussbaumen. Her parents decided to send her to the Indian dance school Nateschwara with Vijaya Rao so that she would not lose her connection to Indian culture. She graduated from Ranga Pravesha in 2022 and has since performed at several events with the Nateschwara Dancers.
Sarvishta Mehta
Sarvishta was born in Olten in 2004. Her mother had already learnt Bharata Natayam in India and then took the opportunity to study further with Vijaya Rao in Switzerland. At the age of 7, Sarvishta also began to learn Bhatata Natyam under Vijaya Rao and reached her stage maturity in 2022 with the Ranga Pravesha. Since then, she has performed at various events as a member of the Nateschwara Dancers.
Manisha Vasumithran
Manisha was born in Kerala, India and grew up in Muscat, Oman. After completing her Master's degree, she moved to Mumbai to start her career as a civil engineer and learnt Kathak for about six months under Smt. Tanvi Palav there. In 2021, Manisha moved to Switzerland and began intensive dance training at the Nateschwara Academy in the same year. Manisha completed her Bharata Natyam basic training with the Ranga Pravesha under the guidance of Vijaya Rao within 3 years and has been a member of the Nateschwara Dancers ever since.
Arushi Bhattacharya
Arushi was born in Switzerland. She made her Bharata Natyam dance debut (Ranga Pravesha) in October 2023 at the Nateschwara Academy under Smt. Vijaya Rao and has since performed several times as part of events with the Nateschwara Dancers.Arushi is a dedicated young dancer, eager to continue learning and growing as an artist.
Iniya Umamageswaran
Iniya was born and raised in Switzerland. She was motivated by her mother, who had already learnt Bharata Natyam, to study Indian dance. So she learnt Bharata Natyam for 6 years under Smt. Vijaya Rao and completed her Ranga Pravesha in spring 2025.
Vidya Thayoor
Vidya is a Doordarshan accredited Bharatanatyam artiste. She lives in Zurich with her husband Manu, an engineer and Carnatic vocalist, and their 3 year old daughter. She began her formal training at the age of 6 with the renowned Guru Smt. Bhavani Ramnath in Bengaluru and continued with the renowned guru Dr Soundarya Srivathsa, under whom she completed her Rangapravesha in 2013. Vidya wanted to continue her journey personally here in Switzerland and chose her guru Smt. Vijaya Rao, under whom she has been studying for about a year.
Rashmitha Nair
Rashmitha is a performer and teacher and actively performs as a soloist and in group productions. She teaches students at the prestigious institution Nrityakalamandiram and is also the founder and director of Spriha School of Dance. Rashmitha is an ICCR accredited and a Doordarshan Kendra, Bangalore honoured artist. She is the senior most disciple of Guru B. Bhanumati and Guru Smt. Sheela Chandrasekhar under whom she was trained in the Vazhavoor style at their institution Nrityakalamandiram.
Vineetha R
Vineeta started her Bharatanatyam dance training at the age of 12 under the guidance of Smt. Malini Ravishankar. She then continued her training under Guru Dr. Prof M R Krishnamurthy at the Kalakshithi School of Fine Arts. She completed her training in Bharatanatyam, with first class honours with her solo debut in 2016. Vineeta lives in Basel and curates events and workshops in Switzerland to support artists from India under the banner of Kavin Natyam. She also plays the instrument Veena and is currently training under Sri. Sheejith Krishna and Smt Sudarshini Iyer.
Pranitha Kamat
Pranitha Kamat, originally from Bangalore, has been living in Switzerland for 14 years. Pranitha has a diploma in Bharatanatyam from the Bharathidasan University and is a passionate teacher. She is author of textbooks and interactive materials on Bharatanatyam. Pranitha is the co-founder of Swiss Natya Sabha, an association association dedicated to Indian art in Switzerland. In addition to her artistic activities, Pranitha is a committed biomedical scientist and is currently a Principal Investigator at a CRO in Basel.
