RUKMINI
VIJAYAKUMAR

Bharata Natyam

Rukmini’s artistic pursuits began with dance. She was initiated into dance with the study of Bharata Natyam and Ballet 18 years ago. She began learning Bharatanatyam under Guru Padmini Rao, a teacher of the Tanjore tradition of Bharatanatyam and later continued under late Guru Smt Narmada, a recipient of the Sangeeth Natak Academy Award. She continues her rigorous practice of the art and performs widely. As a Bharatanatyam soloist, Rukmini has danced in several National dance events, which include the Festival at Khajuraho, the Kalidas Samaroha in Ujjain, the Natyanjali in Chidambaram and many more.

What sets Rukmini apart, is not only her dedication to delve deep but also her breadth of knowledge. Versatile, she is proficient in more than one dance form. She graduated from one of the most eminent performing Arts schools in the USA, the Boston Conservatory after a rigorous four years, with Bachelors of Fine Arts in dance, (Modern and Ballet) becoming the first Indian to graduate with a Dance degree from The Boston Conservatory. She has studied Laban movement analysis, Alexander technique and Pilates extensively.

Rukmini has learnt yoga and continues a serious practice. She is a certified Pilates instructor of the Power Pilates institute. She studied Human Anatomy and Exercise physiology at the Boston University and is pursuing a Fitness Instruction certification at UCLA.

Rukmini began acting in the Theaters of Bangalore, she continued her study at the Boston conservatory and later acquired a Certificate in acting at the Film Academy in LA. She debuted in a Tamil movie “Bommalattam’, with renowned Actors Nana Patekar and Arjun Sarja, directed by Bharathi Raja. She is currently working on several other acting assignments in India.

Rukmini was initiated into Bharata Natyam, under Guru Padmini Rao, a teacher of the Tanjore tradition of Bharatanatyam. She completed her Vidwat, teacher’s training and Arangetram under her. For the last 7 years she has been studying under late Guru Smt Narmada, a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. She deepened her bharata Natyam studies, of Karanas and the Natyashastra under Smt. Sundari Santhanam, a senior disciple of Padmashree Padmasubramanyam. In the recent years she has choreographed several productions, experimenting with thematic productions as well as movement vocabulary that is traditional, and yet contemporary. Some productions being, ‘Krishnaa’, ‘Rukmini’, ‘Megham’, ‘Vande Shivow’ etc.

As a Bharata Natyam soloist, Rukmini has danced in several National dance events, which include the Festival at Khajuraho, the Kalidas Samaroha in Ujjain, the Natyanjali in Chidambaram, the Dasara Festival in Mysore, Uttarardh Utsav in Modhera Gujarat, the Winter performances in Chennai and the Baadal Raag Samaroh at Bhopal. She has gained perspective in her Bharata Natyam training by attending several workshops under Smt Kalanidhi Narayanan, Smt. Priyadarsini Govind, Sri CV Chandrashekar, Smt Savithri Jagannath Rao, and other teachers of renown.