Our Guru

Dr. M.R. Krishnamurthy

||Sri Gurubhyo Namaha||

Guru Prof. M.R. Krishnamurthy, fondly known as Kittu Sir, founder of Kalakshiti, Bengaluru is the disciple of the legendary Rukmini Devi Arundale of Kalakshetra Foundation, Chennai. At the age of 17, he underwent rigorous training and learnt bharathanatyam in its essence from Smt. Rukmini Devi Arundale and other emminent teachers like N.S Jayalakshmi, Smt.Sharada Hoffman, Prof. Pushpa Shankar and Smt.Vasanta Vedam. He also learnt from the great performer of that time Mylapore Gowriammal and Kathakali exponent - Chandu Panicker.

After serving 30 years at Kalakstra as a professor, he moved to Bengaluru and founded Kalakshiti in 1991, firmly on the classical lines and philosophies imparted by Rukmini Devi. He has been the recipient of several awards and honours such as- the "Sangeetha Natya Sangham", "Kalashri", "Chandana Prashasti" by Doordarshan, "The Artist of the Year 2000", "Natya Tapassvi", "Natya Rasa Rishi", "Purandara Prashasti", "Purvankara Sangeetha Award" and so on. Kittu Sir was recently awarded an "Honorary Doctrate" in Bharatanatyam by the Indian Virual University for Peace and Education. Kittu Sir and Kalakshiti have been a constant source of inspiration and learning for Bhoomija and Supraja.

Bhoomija

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Dance:
Bhoomija’s interest in dance was evident at the age of one, when she would sway rhythmically to any music. She began her lessons at the early age of seven under Prof. M.R. Krishnamurthy, Kalakshiti, Bangalore. Bhoomija learnt bharatanatyam for more than a decade at Kalakshiti, and has been moulded meticulously by Kittu Sir into an an acclaimed performer, choreographer and nattuvanar. She has performed key roles in various dance dramas composed by Kittu Sir such as ‘Rukmini Kalyanam' and ‘Akkamahadevi’. Bhoomija and her younger sister Supraja, performed their Arangetram in 2013, and have been rendering both duet and solo shows at major events across India such as, Naadaneerajanam in Tirupati, Brahma Gana Sabha in Chennai, ICCR and Yuva Sourabha at Bangalore.
Bhoomija is a Doordarshan graded artist and has successfully completed Karnataka State Vidwat Dance Examination with distinction. She is a prize winner of the prestigious 'Cleveland Tyagaraja Aradhana Dance Competition 2016' senior category.

Nattuvangam

Bhoomija is a trained nattuvanar and has done nattuvangam for students at Kalakshiti. In the US, she has been a nattuvanar for the troupe 'Anubhava' and has toured with them.

Music

Bhoomija is trained in Carnatic music and has completed the Karnataka State Junior Music Exam.

Yoga

Bhoomija has undergone training in the Patjanjali Yoga Sutra from her father and Yoga Guru Sri. Prasad, and has obtained her Diploma in Yoga Instructor’s Course (YIC), VYASA Jigani.She has taught at her father’s yoga institute, ‘Antar Yoga Center’.

Education

Bhoomija has completed her Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from The National Institute of Engineering (NIE), Mysore and has worked as a Researcher at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. She moved to Cleveland, USA after her marriage to Abhishek and she is currently pursuing her graduate studies in Mechanical Engineering at the Case Western Reserve University.

Supraja

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Dance:

Supraja, known for her theatrics as early as she was a wide-eyed naive baby, started her lessons in Bharatanatyam at the age of eight under Prof. M R. Krishnamurthy, Kalakshiti, Bangalore. Supraja learnt Bharatanatyam for more than a decade at Kalakshiti, and has been molded meticulously by Kittu Sir into a wonderful performer, choreographer and nattuvanar. She has performed in the Doordarshan program-Chittara, danced and done nattuvangam for many programs under the banner of Kalakshiti including the Annual Day and Rukmini Athai birthday celebrations.
Supraja is a Doordarshan graded artist and has successfully completed the Karnataka state Vidwat dance exam with distinction. She is the recipient of the "Karnataka Sangeetha Nrutya Academy scholarship for Dance 2016". Supraja and her elder sister Bhoomija performed their Arangetram in 2013, and have been rendering both and solo shows at major events across India such as Naadaneerajanam, Parthasarathy Sabha dance festival, Hampi Utsav, Pallavotsava, ICCR, and Ponnaiah festival.

Theatre:
A natural dramatist, Supraja has been the lead artist for the well known kannada theatre group Natyadarpana in their popular dramas such as 'Santyag Ninthaana Kabeera', 'Madhavi' and 'Siddhate' to name a few. She won the "best performer of the team" award from Rangashree Kalaa Samsthe for Santyag Ninthaana Kabeera. She is into film making and has been a part of movies like 'March 22' and 'Dada is Back' and a short film 'Ammu and Acchu'. She has contributed as an Actor, Assistant Director and a dubbing artist.

Music:

Supraja is trained in Carnatic music under Smt. Swathi Suri, a disciple of the famous Smt. Leela Ramgopalan, and she continues her music training over Skype with Chami

Education:
Academically, Supraja is pursuing her graduate studies in the field of molecular life sciences at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany. She obtained her Bachelors degree in Biotechnology Engineering from BMSCE, Bengaluru and has worked for a year at Syngene, a Biocon company.