Achaarya Mythili Kumar

Mythili Kumar is the founder and artistic director of Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose. An exponent of three different Indian classical dance forms: Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, and Odissi, Mythili Kumar’s commanding stage presence speaks of many years of rigorous training under skilled teachers in India. Her gurus were Smt. Indra Rajan, Sri T.R. Devanathan and Smt. Kalanidhi Narayanan for Bharatanatyam, Sri Vendantam Jagannatha Sharma for Kuchipudi, and Guru Srinath Raut and Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra for Odissi.

An accomplished artist, Mythili performed extensively in India before moving to the U.S. in 1978. Her artistic ability and high quality of her dance choreography have been recognized in the U.S. where she has been awarded several Choreographers’ fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1994 and 2007 the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival Committee honored her for her outstanding artistry and contribution to world dance. In addition, she was awarded a choreography commission for the festival in 2008. Bharath Kalachar in Chennai awarded her the title “Viswa Kala Bharati” in 1999. In 2002, the Shiva Vishnu Temple awarded her the title Abhinaya Kala Ratna. She has toured with the company to India and other parts of the U.S.

Mythili Kumar has held workshops in Indian dance at Stanford University, San Jose State University, Santa Clara University, and taught a fall semester course in Indian dance at the University of California, Santa Cruz for ten years.

She was honored by World Arts West with a Lifetime Achievement Award in June 2010 and received a “Sustained Achievement Award” by the Bay Area Isadora Duncan Award Committee in March 2011. In addition, Soorya Performing Arts of St. Louis awarded her with a Lifetime Achievement Award in April 2011. Julie Mushet, Executive Director of World Arts West, announced the creation of the “Mythili Kumar Award” to be presented every year at the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival to an exceptionally promising upcoming artist. She was the winner of the 2015 Legacy Laureate Award from Silicon Valley Creates for her outstanding dedication to the art form. In 2019, Bharathi Tamil Sangam honoured Mythili Kumar with a title ‘Nadana Shirormani’ for her invaluable contributions to the Bharatanatyam art form. She was honoured with the title “Smaran Kala Kaushala” during the Smaran dance festival and was also honored with the 2019 Inspire Award by India Community center (ICC) the same year. In 2026, she received a lifetime achievement award from Yuva Bharati and was selected as a YWCA 2026 Tribute to Women Honoree.

Malavika Kumar Walia

Director, Junior Dance Company

Company Dancer, Choreographer, & Musician

Malavika Kumar Walia is the daughter and student of Mythili Kumar. As a senior company dancer, choreographer, and teacher, she has been teaching, dancing and performing nattuvangam (art of conducting the orchestra with cymbals and vocalizing rhythms) for arangetrams and company productions since 2000. In a 2004 performance in Chennai, she was lauded by a critic as ‘the star of the show’ for her ‘precise, well-intoned nattuvangam’. She has performed in many of Abhinaya Dance Company’s productions with key roles and has toured with the company to India and around the U.S.A. She also coaches students towards their Arangetrams (solo debut performances). She has also composed numerous jathis and choreographed items for solo and group performances. In January 2020, she was appointed as the Director of the newly launched Junior Dance Company.

Aishwarya Venkat

Teacher & Company Dancer

Aishwarya Venkat was trained in Bharatanatyam by Kalaimamani Thanjavur Rajalakshmi in India. She has a Diploma in Fine arts from Kalai Kaviri Institute, and has staged more than 25 solo performances in renowned institutions in India. She is a freelance performer and has performed with the company since 2015. She has been teaching for Abhinaya since 2016, and conducts 4 hours of weekly classes and mentors students towards their Arangetrams.

Pooja Sohoni

Teacher & Company Dancer

Pooja Sohoni trained under Mythili Kumar and performed her arangetram in 2007. She participated in Abhinaya’s 30th anniversary series in 2010. In 2017, she returned to the Bay Area and has performed in productions such as Abhinaya’s ‘Gandhi’ in St. Louis, MO , & San Ramon, CA; ‘Apoorva Katha’ (2017); in the Drive East Festival in New York in 2018 and Abhinaya productions in 2019 and 2020. She has been teaching classes for Abhinaya since 2017 and also mentors students towards their Arangetrams. She also regularly assists with coordinating and leading student performances at local community events.

Kavita Varadarajan

Teacher

Kavita began learning Bharatanatyam at the age of 7 under the guidance of Smt. Mythili Kumar. She performed her Arangetram in 2008 and participated in several company shows including Shiva- The Cosmic Dancer(2004), Multi-Splendored Ramayana(2006), My Favorite Story(2007), and Mayil Adum Alagam (2008), Rivers (2009). She graduated from college in 2014 and has been teaching since 2020.

Lakshmi Venkatesan

Teacher

Lakshmi Venkatesan learned Bharatanatyam for over ten years from Mythili Kumar, and performed her arangetram in 2005. She has participated in several Abhinaya’s dance productions since her arangetram. Some of the notable productions she has danced in, are ‘Rivers- A mystical Journey’, ‘Prithvi-the Earth’ and the 30th anniversary performances in 2010. She has performed for various local community organizations and events, schools, and temples. She has been teaching classes for Abhinaya and mentoring students for their Arangetrams for over 15 years. She also regularly assists with coordinating and leading student performances at local community events.

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