Dancers

Sahana Ratneswaran

Sahana Ratneswaran is a multi talented artist who brings new innovating ideas to flourish choreography, jathis and theater productions. Sahana starting learning bharatanatyam at a young age at Laya Bhava Dance Academy under her mother and Guru: Kirupanithy Ratneswaran. Sahana completed her arangetram on August 26, 2005, which opened the doors for Sahana to embark on a professional dance career. Sahana travelled to India to pursue advanced technical dance training and nattuvangam under the world-renowned dance and nattuvangam master, late Padmasri Adyar K. Lakshman which lead to several solo performances in Chennai. Sahana has expanded her reach from bharatanatyam to other styles such as kuchipudi from Guru Sumathy Timanar and “Kuchipudi Art Academy Chennai”, Odissi from Menaka Thakkar at “Nrityakala Canada”, “Srjan Bhubaneswar” and Sujata Mohapatra and ballet from the “National Ballet School of Canada” just to name a few. Sahana has learnt prenkhini natyam which is the extraordinary art of painting a picture with your feet while dancing; Sahana can paint a dove and elephant. Sahana took up the art of Kathakali and completed her Purappadu in 2014 under Guru Anupama Dineshkumar and Guru FACT Padmanadhan. Sahana has trained under eminent artists such as the Dhananjayans, Ambika Buch, Indira Kadampi, M.S Hariharan.

She was the Artist award winner at Tamil Mirror’s Awards Gala 2018. Sahana won first place in the senior category at Analai Express’s & Athavan TV‘s Navarasa Natiyam Dance Competition in 2016. She was a finalist in Harbourfront Centre’s Sadhana 2016. Sahana has been a two-time regional gold medalist at the Canada's National Dance Championships and a gold medalists at the Dance World Cup 2012. 

Sahana co-founded a charitable organization 'Sahana Dance Company’ in 2011 to advances Bharatanayam Artists’ careers. Sahana started the Samarpanam Series in 2013 and continues to perform yearly. She has also performed for Flourising in the Further Soil 2018 presented by Menaka Thakkar and Horizon Series 2015 at the Sampradaya Theatre in Mississauga. Sahana has performed at Kalakshetra Foundation in 2015 and 2019. Sahana has also taken up the traditional art of playing the Veena under Guru Kalyani Sutharshan. Sahana’s interest in Tamils’ History had led her to choreograph “Sangilian,” a one hour dance drama production in 2017.

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Luckshana Thiruchelvam

The art of bharatanatyam has always been a significant of Luckshana's life. She started learning dance at Laya Bhava Dance Academy at the age of four under Guru Smt. Kirupanithy Ratneswaran. She completed her bharatanatyam arangetram on August 25th 2018. She as participated in many cultural events in Toronto. She performed for Flourishing in the Further Soil  presented by Menaka Thakkar Dance Company in November 2018. She has learnt in many workshops conducted by International artists. She has learnt Carnatic vocal and violin for the past 12 years. She has been teaching dance at Laya Bhava Dance Academy for the past 5 years. 

Premy Shanthamoorthy

Premy had began learning at Laya Bhava Dance Academy from the age of 5 under Guru Smt. Kirupanithy Ratneswaran. She completed her arangetram in August 2012. She performed for Flourishing in the Further Soil presented by Menaka Thakkar Dance Company in November 2018. Premy has given several performances throughout the GTA. Premy teaches at Laya Bhava Dance Academy.

Vaisnavi Shanthamoorthy

Vaisnavi had began learning at Laya Bhava Dance Academy from the age of 7 under Guru Smt. Kirupanithy Ratneswaran. She completed her arangetram in August 2012. She won first place at the Navarasa Natyam Dance competition in 2016. She performed for Flourishing in the Further Soil presented by Menaka Thakkar Dance Company in November 2018. She also performed alongside Indhuvadana Malli (Adyar K Lakshman) in Bhakthi Pravaham 2018. Vaisnavi has given several performances throughout the GTA.