ArohaFest Diwali Celebration

Canadian-born dancer and choreographer, Anjali Patil, has been trained in India under renowned masters of Kathak Classical Indian dance. She is the founder and artistic director of Aroha Fine Arts, one of only a handful of organizations working in the professional Kathak dance milieu.

Anjali has performed her works at noteworthy events – from the Canada Dance Festival to Delhi International Arts Festival, the Junos to International Film Festival of India. A sought after teacher and coach, Anjali teaches in Ottawa, Toronto, India and the Middle East. She was invited as a guest lecturer at the Dance Department of Hyderabad University in India in 2018 and as a panelist at a dance seminar presented by National Centre for Performing Arts in Mumbai, India, in 2019.

In addition to her artistic pursuits, Anjali has a long history in the public sector and cultural policy as an employee of the Department of Canadian Heritage. She holds an M.A. in Public Administration from Carleton University and B.Comm. from University of Ottawa. She launched the annual ArohaFest – Canada’s first bilingual festival celebrating the arts of India in Canada to honour Canada’s 150th birthday.

Recently, she worked on an international project for award-winning Canadian director Atom Egoyan. She is a recipient of the Corel Endowment for the Arts Award from the Ottawa Arts Council, Chalmers Performing Arts Award, Shastri Indo-Canadian Senior Arts Fellowship and was featured in a Kathak documentary produced by Doordarshan TV India. Anjali has been featured in the Foreign Affairs publication Canada & South Asia: Partners for the New Century. Anjali is regularly featured in media and is actively keeping the classical Indian dance scene thriving in Ottawa and beyond. 

Aishwarya is a Bharatanatyam dancer, teacher and artistic director of Sadhana School of Indian Arts in Ottawa. She has trained under Padmabhushan Dhananjayans, Kalakshetra and Smt. Deepti Parol. She has performed in India, the Middle East, as well as in  Canada. She is also a Carnatic music singer who has undergone rigorous training for the last 20 years and has obtained an MBA  from the Letroube University in Australia.

Stuti is a Bharatanatyam exponent based in Ottawa. Bharatanatyam is one of the 8 major Indian classical dance forms and a cultural treasure originating from the southern part of India, Tamil Nadu.

Stuti has received rigorous training in Bharatanatyam since the age of 5. She has successfully earned her Diploma in Bharatnatyam from Kalamandalam Performing Arts and Research Centre in Kolkata under the supervision of Guru Thankumuni Kutty and Govindam Kutty in 2005. Stuti did her Bharatanatyam Arangetram in 2019 under the guidance of Shri. Guhendran Sarvanapava. Post- Arangetram, Stuti continued her advanced Bharatanatyam training with the eminent Guru, Shri. Kalakshetra Amarnath Ghosh, a Doordarshan graded Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi artist based in Chennai, who is an alumnus of the world-renowned Bharatanatyam institute, Kalakshetra Foundation and Kuchipudi Art Academy. Stuti is also trained in another major Indian classical art form named "Kuchipudi," originating from Andhra Pradesh, India.

Stuti is also trained in "Nattuvangam", an art of rhythmic recitation to accompany dancers in Bharatanatyam. She is a disciple of Guru Shri RLV Hemanth Lakshman, a renowned Nattuvanar, who is based in Kerala, India. In 2019, Stuti performed at the Ottawa Art Gallery during an emerging artist showcase organized by eminent South Asian dancer, Shri Lata Prada, Artistic Director of Sampradaya Dance Creations, funded by the Canada Council for the Arts. She also performed at TEDx uOttawa as well as at Parliament Hill events organized by senators and diplomats. Stuti has been performing for most of the major Indian festivals like - Festival of India and the TD South Asian festival in Ottawa. Stuti had the privilege to be a juror for Ontario Arts Council's Dance Projects grant program in 2020. Recently, she was awarded a Dance Fellowship in 2021 to be a part of Indian Raga dance productions, one of the biggest Indian classical dance platforms in North America, based in Boston, USA. Presently, Stuti owns a dance school-"Kalagriha School of Performing Arts" in Kanata, Ottawa wherein, she teaches beginners, intermediate, and advanced dance lessons to students. Apart from being a Bharatanatyam dancer, Stuti has completed a 200-hour teacher training to become a Registered Yoga Instructor; working with some of the most renowned Yoga studios in Ottawa. Stuti's Yoga teaching style is strength focussed, philosophy-centred, playful, and challenging. Yoga also inherently compliments Stuti's dance career. If you would like to explore more about the roots, culture, origin of Bharatanatyam & Yoga, you may follow her on social media. https://www.facebook.com/stuti.mukherjee https://www.instagram.com/stutiim/ https://www.instagram.com/yogastuti/ www.yogastuti.com https://www.facebook.com/kalagriha

As a classically trained, international Odissi dance performer for the past 20 years, Sonia is also an inspired choreographer.  She is artistic director of Sonia St-Michel Creations, an organization dedicated to artistic research, creation and dissemination of works involving collaborations across diverse mediums and artistic practices.  Sonia’s Odissi training began in Canada and then continued in India under the tutelage of Smt. Aloka Panikar and Smt. Sujata Mohapatra.  She was initiated to western classical singing by Stephanie Beames and Jonathan Voyer.  Her work has been presented in theatres, festivals and art galleries in Canada and abroad in venues such as the Odissi International festival in India, Galeria Rosenblueth in Mexico, the Ottawa Dance Directive, the Kalanidhi Fine Arts and Alliance Française in Toronto, Tangente and Festival Accès Asie in Montreal. Committed to promoting arts education she teaches Odissi dance and offers school workshops across Quebec and Ontario.

Julie Beaulieu is a dancer, choreographer, researcher and teacher. Disciple of Vidushi Smt.Rohini Imarati since 2003, she periodically stays in India to perfect the art of Bharatanāṭyam, to offer performances and to create new choreographies. In 2010, Julie cofounded Saṃskāra : artisans of passage with musician and researcher Jonathan Voyer. She is an associate member of CERIAS (Centre d'études et de recherche sur l'Inde, l'Asie du Sud et sa diaspora) and a member of the International Dance Council CID. Julie holds a master's degree in dance (UQAM) and is pursuing her doctoral studies in arts studies and practices (UQAM). Her deep interest in the history of Bharatanāṭyam led her to participate in numerous research residencies in India and Hungary, under the direction of Dr. Saskia Kersenboom (Paramparai Arts).