collective
natya dance collective
We are an ensemble of rigorously trained Bharatanatyam dancers with extensive performance experience who meet to co-produce new work for our local communities. We take inspiration from our diverse communities and aim to contribute to a vibrant artistic landscape in Boston by inspiring our heart and bodies, and taking conceptual and choreographic risks. In 2018, we premiered Trishul: Dancing Trident in Cambridge and Natick, and were featured at the Cambridge River Festival's Interactive Dance Stage. In 2019, we premiered Samsara: Dancing the Everyday in Cambridge. In 2024, growing out of experience of grief and healing during the pandemic, we presented Radical Love: A Collective Movement was presented at the Dance Complex after over a dozen local performances that we used to develop the program. Our most recent work, Kala Pani Crossings, premiered at the Boston Center for the Arts in March 2026.
Dr. Smitha Radhakrishnan
(Artistic Director) founded NATyA in 2015 after three decades of training and performance. A lifelong diasporic dancer, she has trained continuously with prominent Bharatanatyam teachers in the U.S. and India since age 5, and has performed in professional solo and group productions all over the United States and South Africa. For more details, please see the contact page.
Usha Narayana
joined natya in 2016 after learning from Sridevi Thirumalai and Jothi Raghavan as a young a girl for many years. She lives in Sherborn, MA with her family. In her professional life, she is Managing Director of Digital Marketing at Bank of America.
Aditi Subramaniam
began her dance training under Rekha Chowdary in both Bharatanatyam and Indian folk dance at the age of four. She continued classical training under Chitra Chandrashekar and Manjari Chandrashekar, daughters of Guru C.V. Chandrashekar before joining Leela Samson. She has performed with ‘Spanda’, Leela Samson’s performance troupe, throughout India and in the USA.
Dr. Gowri Vijayakumar
started learning Bharatanatyam as a child in Andover from Purnima Gururaja. She pursued further training under Guru Narmada (Bangalore, India); the Dhananjayans, and Katherine Kunhiraman. As an adult, she continued training with Gururaja in Bangalore, India. She has performed in the productions “Belaku Kanda Balakaru” and “Shivotsavam,” with the Dhananjayans in “Satyam Sivam Sundaram,” and in community performances with Katherine Kunhiraman’s Kalanjali Dance School.
Kavya Prasad
started learning Bharatanatyam at the age of 7 under the tutelage of Smt. Kamakshi Jayaraman at Shivanjali School of Dance and later under the guidance of Smt. Lavanya Sankar at Abhayasa Academy, Coimbatore. She has performed in various distinguished forums such as the Namami Gange Anthem, a Government of India Project. She continues to actively perform in India.
Dr. Havisha Honwad
began her dance training at age 7 under Smt. Sayali Ranade and received additionaltraining at Guru Sucheta Chapekar’s “Kalavardhini Nrityashala” in Pune, India. She has co-directed Bharatanatyam shows such as “Brihadisha” and “Nava-Vidha,” exploring new paths to perceive classical concepts with her mentor, Mugdha Joshi. Havisha is a trained Hindustani classical singer, outdoor enthusiast, and biomedical scientist.
