Artistic Director
Shantha Ratii is widely recognised for her extraordinary artistry, beguiling abhinaya, exquisite design-sense, eloquence and the gentle persuasive power of her moving performances. She has delighted audiences in USA, UK, Japan, the Middle East, Malaysia, India and more.
One of the few globally acclaimed Kuchipudi artistes, Shantha enriches her Kuchipudi classical Indian repertoire with foreign regional literary works, infusing it with freshness in design and interpretation. She has also blazed a trail for innovative and experimental works without losing the intrinsic value, verve and vocabulary of her classical training. Her avant garde style is evident in her productions featuring social transformation and present-day concerns.
Even after four decades of attracting new audiences and making dance accessible, Shantha continually endeavours to ensure relevance and a sense of immediacy in her work.
All the qualities that permeate her performance ethics also flow in the values she imparts to students at SRI. Dance is a vehicle to develop caring, resilient individuals with a civic conscience for the future.
Mentorship Project - "SPARKS"
SPARKS is SRI’s Mentorship Program in which Ms Shantha hand-picks promising young dancers and guides them through a process of contemplation and soul searching for deeper understanding of their craft, towards achieving greater heights and finer quality in their performance. The mentor steers them through the process of selecting their piece, researching it, framing its outline, and choreography. SPARKS is intended to kick-start a meaningful performing arts career for the young artistes. According to Ms Shantha, “Artistic expression and culture manifest a nation’s spirit. Every year, International Dance Day seeks to ignite the next generation and create ripples across the arts fraternity. Through this we look to co-create and add to the dynamics and vibrancy of our art scene locally and internationally”.
Shantha Says
My life started at 5 when I was learning the rudiments of Bharatanatyam, which opened up the spectacular universe of dance to me, marking the beginning of a glorious journey!
Kathakali training at 7 brought storytelling and emoting to a new level of understanding. through the age-old wisdom in the Itihasa and Puranas. Discipline became a habit and the world of dance my playground for life!
Kuchipudi, eschewing the austerity that sometimes characterises Bharatanatyam, with its exuberance and flamboyance engulfed my life from my 20s.
As a modern woman. I received these magnificent forms and it filtered through my contemporary mind, giving me new ways of communicating traditional thoughts with a contemporary sensibility, which has helped me make my work more accessible and exciting, as well as bridging art and social issues and complex philosophical ideas.
Using the power of the classical idioms in experimental and innovative work continues as an adventure for me to engage the audiences and increase their awareness of how art can impact society. I draw from its depth to explore the potentiality of uniting people through dance.
Mostly I look at dance and live with it, through the wonderment of a child!
AND I dance to the music of my soul.
– Shantha Ratii
