O U R T E A M
A cause isn't a cause without people who believe in it.
Parvati Rajamani
Artistic Director
Ananda Arts is led by Parvati Rajamani, who has over forty-five years of experience as a professional dancer, teacher and mentor. She has been running bi-weekly classes for adults and children for over a decade in Bedford, led master-classes, workshops and hosted performances by eminent artistes from India such as Ileana Citaristi and Madhavi Mudgal. Her students have gone on to pursue professional careers in dance. Parvati has been at the forefront in initiating an Odissi syllabus for the ISTD exam board and is a key member of the Odissi Ensemble. Parvati curated a mini Odissi festival in 2017 in partnership with the 21st Century Education Trust, and with support from the Nehru Centre and Akademi, which brought together many Odissi dance artists, teachers and students from across the UK and Europe.
Bipinchandra Shah
Secretary & Treasurer
Bipinchandra Shah has lived in Bedford since 1977 and always strives to find the time to give back to the community that welcomed him so warmly all those years ago. He is the secretary and treasurer of Ananda Arts and has been integral in successfully running our local dance classes for the last five years as well as working hard to provide various other opportunities for the local community revolving around South Asian arts. He takes great interest in being a part of the local education systems, in order to do what he can to improve, expand and cohesively work with them and is keen to bring different ethnic cultures to the public through these classes.
Sarika Shah
Marketing & Public Engagement
Sarika Shah loves being a part of the Ananda Arts team and puts her Master's degree in creative writing to good use regarding press release, marketing and promotion of our various projects. She is particularly interested in mental health and is excited at the prospect of our team bringing Odissi to patients and audiences in various healthcare environments and practices through performances and taster sessions to encourage mental and physical well being.
Yasmin Mahmood
Steering Committee Member
Yasmin Mahmood provides strategic and managerial support to Ananda Arts with her wealth of experience in the corporate and government sectors. She is also a parent representative with a strong belief in the importance of arts development of Odissi in the UK.
Sheeba Taneja
Teacher
Sheeba began her Odissi journey with Guru Ashis Kumar Das in Cuttack, Odisha. In the UK, she has been learning under the tutelage of Dr Parvati Rajamani for the past 10 years.
She has also had the opportunity to learn from Shalakha Rai and Padmasri Madhavi Mudgal in the Odissi Festival that Ananda Arts has held for over 4 years in Bedford.
She has performed in Odisha and in the UK for Ananda Arts, Kadam, MK Odia Society, Diwali Festivals Bedford as well as conducted Odissi workshops for Arts Council in Higgins Museum and Philaharmonia through their Here and Now Project.
She continues to teach and develop her practice in Odissi by creating choreographies for different performances and currently teaches beginner classes for Ananda Arts.