Smt. Sadhana Paranji :

Guru Sadhana Paranji received her training in Indian classical dance under revered Gurus: Padmashri Saroja Vaidyanathan, Dr. Uma Rama Rao & Dr. Nataraja Ramakrishna. She is a Gold Medalist in MA (Dance) from Telugu University, Hyderabad, INDIA. She stood first in the All India Classical Dance Competition for three consecutive years (1978-80) and was was the recipient of Govt. of India scholarship for furthering her studies in Indian dance. The Government of India has accorded her the status of a 'Grade A' artist.  Sadhana has been awarded the titles such as,"Shringaramani" by Sur Shringar Samsad, Mumbai, "Nritya Kala Praveene" & "Nritya Shiromani" by Basava International, New York; "NATYA KALA VIPANCHEE" by Vipanchee Fine Arts Inc., Chennai, and "Nritya Kala Ratna" by Vamsee Fine Arts, Hyderabad. She has also received proclamations from the US Congress, NY State Senate & the NY City Council. She was featured on two ABC-TV shows "Eyewitness News" and "Good Morning America" and also written about in "New York Times" & "Backstage" (a broadway magazine).   

 

Sadhana is a teacher and a performer.  She has been actively promoting Bharatanatyam & Kuchipudi in New York City since 1992 through her dance school, Sadhanalaya. She conducts work-shops & lecture-demos at various educational institutions and museums & libraries such as the American Museum of Natural History, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall, Queens Museum and the Brooklyn museum.Sadhana also promotes Indian art form and culture at the NY city public schools. Sadhana's students regularly participate in programs for Telugu Literary Cultural Association, Tamil Sangam, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Associations of Indians in America, Indian Consulate, Shruti Laya, Indian Association of Long Island and others. Her students have performed for several diverse audiences including in City Hall, Town hall, Korean Associations, Chinese Associations, United Nations, Hempstead town hall etc.

 

As a performer, she has over a 1000 performances to her credit.  She has choreographed and performed in several of her own productions including: Shiva Parvathi Kalyanam sponsored by Basava International, Dasavataram, Mahashakthi and Om Namaha Shivaya.  She also presented a dance ballet, Sri Venkateshwara Sringara Lahari in May 2011 as a fundraiser for the Hindu Temple Society in NY.   In November of 2013,she staged yet another production : Navadurga based on the Navadurga Stotram which was an astounding success. Every year for the schools annual day she features a thematic presentation including Krishnaya Tubhyam Namaha, Navarasa Malika, Ramadutaya Namaha, Durga Lakshmi Saraswati and so on so forth. 

 

Under Guru Sadhana's guidance,sixty nine students have successfully performed their arangetrams. She continues to strive to keep the art and the rich traditions of India alive among the new generation and foster discipline among them.