Kitappa Pillai was a direct descendent of the famed Tanjore Quartet and of the great gurus of Pandanallur Bharatanatyam, Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai and Mutthukumar Pillai, both Mrinalini Sarabhai’s gurus.
Chathunni Panicker was one of the greatest Kathakali dancers of the century and joined Darpana as a dancer and teacher in 1949. He taught both styles to students till he left in 1976.
C R Acharyelu was one of the greatest Kuchipudi gurus of the last century, and a student of Lakshminarayan Shastri who is credited with the revival of the style as we know it today. He taught at Darpana from 1950 till 199? when he died.
Rama Rao joined Darpana in 1960 as a vocal and gottuvadhyam teacher, and headed the department of music for close to 20 years.
Kailash Pandya was a loeft wing actor with the Indian Peoples Theatre Association and a well known Gujarati th4eatre actor when he founded Darpana’s theatre department in 1958. He headed it, directed plays, trained hundreds of actors and worked on development issues till his death in xxxx.
Damini Mehta co founded the theatre department with Kailash Pandya. She was Gujarati’s theatre’s top actress, working with veteran Jaishankar Sundari, when she came to Darpana. She continued as an actress and director till ill health made her retire in xxxx.
Meher Contractor headed UNIMA, the international union of puppeteers, when she founded the puppetry department at Darpana in 1961. With C R Acharyelu, she was responsible for the revival of the Andhra shadow puppets. She trained hundreds of students in puppetry and ran the department till her death in xxxx
Patthagudi Ramaswamy was a singer and nattuvanar who taught at Darpana from 1976 till 1988. He was also the main singer and nattuvanar during those years.
Purushottaman was a singer, comp[oser and gottuvadhyam player who was a student of rama Rao and took over the music department at Darpana from him. He remained at Darpana for over thirty years.
Nagarajan joined Darpana as a Bharatantyam guru in 19xx. HE remained the senior guru at Darpana till 19xx
Maheshwari Nagarajan is Darpana’s senior most guru and has been teaching at Darpana since 1980. She has also done the nattuvangam and sung for the Performing Group and travelled all over the world with it.
K Sasidharan Nair trained at the Kottakal Kathakali school and joined Darpana as a dancer in 1971. He trained to become a KAthakali, Mohini Attam and Bharatanatryam teacher and remained with Darpana till his retirement in 200x.
Seetalakshmi trained at Kerala Kalamandalam and joined Darpana in xxxx. She danced with the dance comapnay and treined hudnreds of young dance students till she retired in xxxx.
T Palanivelu has been teaching mridangam at Darpana since 19xx. He has also accompanied the Darpana Performing Group during the same period and continues teaching.
Archan Trivedi joined Darpana as a student and was mentored by Kailash Pandya and Damini Mehta in 19xx. He stayed on a an actor, director and teacher till 200x.
Nisarg Trivedi joined Darpana as a student under Kailash Pandya and Damini Mehta in 19xx. He graduated to being a teacher and trainer under whom dozens of actors trained till 20xx.
Padmakumar is one of a kind jumping jack. What does it mean is his favourite phrase.
Darpana’s acting classes train for professional work in theatre and film. They also help people build confidence, self realization, body awareness, presence and communication skills. Courses range from a few weeks to three month, with additional three month modules that take students into direction and a production.
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The most ancient martial art form is transformed to a style for dance and movement that enhances core strength, balance, grace and fitness. Short and long term workshops, basic and advanced.
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Malakham is a traditional rural sport, usually open only for boys. Darpana teaches its gender neutral, contemporary version in the form of aerial work, taught by renowned trainer Jayesh Kacha.
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Learning Indian percussion is a way of combining the right and left brains, the creative and the skillful, the fast and the furious. Learn a range of instruments from the classical mridangam to the folk dhol and dholak to the chenda.
join classesLearn the folk and tribal dancing form across the country in their true varieties as taught to Darpana teachers by members of each community. The rnge is from the Bhil dances of Gujarat, MP and Rajasthan, to the Oppana of Kerala, to Ao Naga hunting dances and the Andhra harvest dance. Short term courses.
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Over the year Darpana conducts workshops run by visiting artists and faculty that run a wide gamut from puppet making to mask making to cartooning, clowning, voice training and contact improvisation and the Tango. Courses are announced on FB and here.
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Developed as an art module of between two and four hours, this workshop aims at opening up the creative right brain and at team building, multi tasking and developing leadership qualities. For groups of between twenty and thirty people of all ages, groups and corporations
join classesThe Darpana Institute for Performance, Arts and Cultural Studies (DIPAC) is dedicated to spreading Darpana's mission of education in the arts across cultural boundaries. DIPAC's program for international students offers training in dance, theatre, music, puppetry, martial arts and in developmental communication through specialized short or medium term courses specifically created for those interested in the Indian arts. Programs are devised for credit earning college courses as well as for professional training and further skill enhancement in the arts and cultural studies. DIPAC also offers capacity building in the form of workshops for teachers, curriculum building & evaluation, and other related services.
