OUR INSTRUCTORS

Smt. Selvi Pragasam is the Founder and Artistic Director of Indian-Fusion Dance Academy and Kalanityam School Of Bharathanatayam. Selvi learnt Bharathanatyam for over 8 years and graduated from the prestigious Kalaikaviri School of Fine Arts, affiliated with Bharathidasan University in Trichy, India. Kalaikaviri is based on the Kalashetra style of Bharathanatyam and she was taught by well known gurus from Kalakshetra. Her gurus included Shri V. P. Dhananjayan and Smt. Shanta Dhananjayan, Sri. Narasimha Chary and Smt. Vijaya Mugundan among others. She learnt Bharathanatyam along with extensive theory. She learnt Mohiniattam, a classical dance from Kerala. ​ She also learnt various folk dance forms of Indian and after coming to the US trained with renowned choreographers for Jazz, Hip Hop and Salsa. She has had numerous performances in India, Europe and the USA. Her performances have won critical acclaim all over the world. She had played the lead in several of the Kalaikaviri’s productions. The highlight of her dance career was when she was asked to perform in front of His Excellency Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. She has also performed in several competitions and wong awards. His styudents have been performing and winning awards for the past 15 years. She enhanced her advanced choreography techniques with guidance from Padmashri Smt.Priyadarshini Govind and from Darrin who is the choreographer for many of Michael Jacksons routines. Very recently, Selvi had the opportunity to also learn BharathaNrithyam from Smt. Anuradha Vikranth. She dedicates all the choreographies in this recital to her various gurus who have been her guide and inspiration.

Smt. Lavanya Gopal, Artistic Director of Kalanityam school of Bharathanatyam, is a disciple of Smt Rukmini Srinivasan, Smt Ananthalakshmi Natarajan and Smt Padmini Ravi. She started learning Bharathanatyam from a tender age of seven. She was one of the first disciples of Smt Rukmini Srinivasan and has been trained under her for almost 8 years. She also continued her dance lessons from Smt Padmini Ravi for almost four years. Her bharathanatyam journey continued under the guidance of Smt Ananthalakshmi Natarajan with innumerable stage performances. She gave her solo debut in bharathanatyam at the age of 10 in Thirkovilur. Some of her performances include "Rasa Leela Tarangini"and Jayadeva Astapadi in which she played the main role. The main highlights of her dance journey include the role of Krishna in the Jayadeva Astapadi and Andal in Tiruppavai which won many accolades. She won the first prize for an intercollegiate Bharathanatyam competition held from all over Karnataka. She has choreographed thematic productions which include Bhaktha Prahalada, Dashavatharam, Srinivasa Kalyanam and Thiruppugazh. She started her dance journey in US in 2003. Lavanya believes that, the passion to the art of Bharathanatyam which invokes spirituality and joy is a gift from her gurus. Her goal is to spread the joy of dancing and make this an enjoyable experience to each one of her students. Shri Gurubhyo Namaha. Smt. Lavanya Gopal joined Smt. Selvi Pragasam in 2008. Lavanya is the Founder Director of Shimmer Indian Fusion Dance Wear and Co-Founder for InFuse Educational Services. ​

Ms.Raji is classically Trained in Bharathanatyam. She has been teaching at Indian-Fusion dance Academy since 2010. She has a great passion for dance. She has performed and choreographed for several productions and events in India and USA. She is also an Early Education teacher . She has also taught our Special Need Kids at InFUSE. Her training in Early education has made her skills in teaching dance unique. Ms. Raji is looking forawrd to teaching and saty affiliated with IFDA for many more years to come.

Trained with North Indian classical dance Kathak and Tagore dance for over 15 years under Guru Manisha Banerjee (disciple of Vandana Sen, later Pt. Birju Maharaj and Saswati Sen). Pursued second level of Diploma and Visharad Pratham in Kathak coupled with Tagore and folk dance. Later, got trained in Bharatnatyam from Guru Shankarnarayan Kutti for 2 years. After moving to the USA, craving of dance drove to acquire new dance style with fitness workout Zumba with Salsa and hiphop. Passionate to drive the new generation with the fusion of the aesthetic beauty of Indian classical dance and Bollywood essence. Started professional choreography for Kathak and Bollywood fusion for last 3 years.

Priyankanna joined our talented group of instructor Fall of 2019. She is looking forward to teaching youth and future generations for a long time.