Varnanjali Natyalaya
Varna Sandeep
Varna Sandeep,is the founder and artistic director of Varnanjali Natyalaya. She is the disciple of Smt. Subha Vaidyanathan and Smt. Vidya Venkatesh, of Rajeswari Natyalaya, Chennai who are disciples of Kalaimamani Smt. Krishnakumari Narendaran who runs the Abhinaya school for Bharathanatyam in Chennai. Varna was disciple of Padmasree Kalamandalam Kshemavathy who is a renowned Mohiniattam teacher and artist and founder of “Kerala Kalamandiram”. She is currently disciple of Smt. Neena Prasad, Mohiniattam guru, researcher and performer at Sougandhika Centre of Mohiniyattam.
She has also learnt Carnatic music and is the disciple of Smt. Sridevi Padmanabhan, an All India Radio artist. She also has experience of acting in a few Tamil movies and produced shows on Doordarshan and conducted interviews on Sun tv in Chennai, India. She was the cultural coordinator at school and college and headed a very vibrant team of dancers, singers and actors who bagged state championships and won prizes.
Bharathanatyam had been part of her life since 5 years of age and still continues to be her most favourite passion along with music and writing. Completing 25 glorious years in her dance journey she still feels it to be limited before a lifetime of dance dedicated by her gurus and great artists. Although she practiced in the Pandanallur bani as a student she likes to implement new techniques in her choreography. She believes that extensive research of Indian history and tradition helps in dance. She has in her credit, choreography of Kautuvams, stuthis and padams in Bharathanatyam and also worked behind semi classical productions. Her latest choreography of the Dhanyasi varnam, Nee Inda mayam has received appreciation. Her production “ Baale” which depicts the simple and poetic relationship between a mother and daughter was popular.
Some of her memorable performances include the Tourism department Govt of TamilNadu in 1999, her Arangettam which was presided by Former Hon Health Minister of Tamil Nadu H.V Hande, Mohiniattam at Guruvayur temple, Kerala, Workshop for the Pickering seniors community. She also performed at the renowned "Taj Coromandel" , Chennai for the American tourists who visited India in 2005.
The Durham Tamil association honoured her with the outstanding volunteer award from the member of the provincial parliament, Tracy Mcharles, of the Uxbridge liberal association IN 2016. She has given more than 50 performances and is in collaboration with various prestigious associations in Toronto. She performs alongside teaching a very small, interested group of students.
Varna is a post graduate in Bharathanatyam from Annamalai University and an English Literature graduate from Ethiraj College, Chennai. She is also a post graduate in English Literature from Madras Christian College and holds a Bachelors degree in Education from Loyola college, Chennai. She completed her career diploma in Child Psychology at Canada. She lives with her husband Sandeep Ravi who is an IT professional and daughters Shishira Sandeep and Sithara Sandeep in Ajax, Ontario, Canada.
