Bela Vasavada

Bela is the Director of Nrutyashala. She received formal training in Bharatnatyam at the school of performing arts at M.S. University Baroda. She is a disciple of Smt. Anjali Mehr,  a leading exponent of Bharatnatyam. She received further training from Sri. Kubernath Tanjorkar, Sri. Pradeep Baruva, Ms. Nargis Katpitia and Smt. Jayanti Chandorkar. In addition to Bharatnatyam, Bela also had training in Kathak and Odissi in 1988. She is also an experienced folk dancer and choreographer, and her teams have won and placed in many folk dance competitions.

In 1988 Bela establshed Nrutyashala, and in 1990 started teaching Bharatanatyam. Hundreds of students have received training from her since then. Bela has produced and choreographed several dance shows, including Madhuvan, Utsav, Krishna Anurag, and Shades of Shakti. She has presented various performances for institutions such as the Ekta Mandir — Hindu Temple of D/FW, India Association of North Texas, Lions Club, Baroda Alumni, and many other organizations.

Kanchana Shastri

Kanchana is the Assistant Director of Nrutyashala. Dance has always been a passion for her and she believes that there will always be room for her to keep growing and learn more. Kanchana has been a student at Nrutyashala since 1998 and completed her Arangetram under Smt. Bela Vasavada in September 2006.  She has performed Bharatanatyam and folk dance at several festivals, dance dramas, and competitions with the school, including Krishna Anuraag and FOGANA. In the UK, Kanchana participated in folk dance festivals and attended dance workshops under the training of world-renowned artists, Professor C.V. Chandrasekhar and Priyadarshini Govind. Kanchana completed her Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2010 and is now currently pursuing her Masters degree in Business Administration.

Nrutyashala School of Indian Classical and Folk Dance
777 N. Grove Road, Suite 113, Richardson, TX 75081 • 972-977-9765 • nrutyashala.school@gmail.com