ANAVARATA

ACTIVITIES

INDIAN DANCE PIONEERS IN SA, HISTORY & HERITAGE

In 1959, Rani (Luxmidhevi Nydoo) Govender (22 August 1944- 30 July 2005)  and her sister Prema             (Pathmavati) were amongst the first 3 South African girls to study a full repertoire of Bharata Natyam in India  along with Sulochana Naidoo, who returned to South Africa, married shortly after and emigrated).  and longer than the local students at Saraswati Gana Nilayam, in Triplicane, Madras; under the tutelage of Srimathi K. Lalitha; as they completed the full repertoire in 2 years as opposed to the regular 5- 6 years of training received at that time.  All of this while still attending school. They remain the core inspiration for generations of Indian classical dancers that now exists in South Africa.

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Rani and Prema returned to India in 1965 to study Kathak ( Lucknow Gharana) under Guru Krishna Kumar, a member of the Mysore State Nataka Academy.  They also used the opportunity to further their Bharata Natyam education.  Prema returned to Bombay, where she studied The Benares Gharana of Kathak in 1974 , under the Maestro Guru Gopi Krishna.  Both sisters went on to teach the dance styles at Sastri College and later Cato Manor technical College’s department of Human Movement and Communication, along with Anusia.

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MULTICULTURAL & INTERCULTURAL DANCE TRAINING

Anavarata is headed up by Anusia, who studied Bharata Natyam and Kathak under both her mother and aunt, since childhood. This resulted in Pillay literally following in her mother’s famous footsteps.  Both mother and daughter advanced their Kathak knowledge under Guru Rajender Gangani of Kathak Kendra, in New Delhi, and studied and researched the various folk and tribal art forms of India.  Pillay became the first South African exponent of Odissi.

Anusia was selected as the first South African Trainer and Principal Dancer of the official Malaysian Cultural Dance troupe in S.A and received training by the Malaysian Arts and Culture Department in Kuala Lumpur in 2001. 

Her additional training included Modern Dance and Jazz under Vera

Pickering, and Drama under Saira Essa at the Upstairs Theatre in Durban.  She worked on two of Disney’s productions in South Africa namely the “The Lion King” in 2006/7 as lead choreographer to the child artists, and “Beauty and the Beast” in 2008/9.  She also served as SA JUDGE for Dance India Dance on ZEE TV in GAUTENG 2010 and Dubai based Colours TV’s “Dance Deewane” in 2018..She is still an avid student of dance and has studied South African, African and Latin styles of Dance, amongst others. She is currently completing her Masters Degree in Drama at Wits University School of the Arts.

PERFORMANCES OF INTERNATIONAL STANDARD

Anavarata has performed passionately for packed audience in Malaysia, South Africa, Mauritius, Zimbabwe,Senegal and Lesotho, to name a few countries.  The dance company is highly recommended by art connoisseurs and is most sought after. They have always fostered a long term and definite vision - to be the best in the Industry and exceed performing arts expectations, both creatively and professionally.

 The Company has 10 resident professional young, talented, energetic dancers and musicians on an exclusive contract, backed by a international faculty of varied dance gurus and experts.  "No short cuts to success". Each Company member has gone through the process of exhaustive training in an array of dance genres, dance theatre

 and other allied performing art skills.  Integrity and Dynamism is the driving force behind the Company. Our forté is to weave various styles seamlessly together to create a contemporary twist to the traditional and accepted forms of dance.