YUVA 2019 – Collaborative Conversations in Indian Arts

YUVA is a unique performance platform that serves to catalyze collaboration among talented new-generation Indian classical artists (dance and music), curated and presented by Silambam Houston. The twelve artists of the YUVA 2019 cohort represent dance (Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Odissi), music (Indian classical vocal, violin, percussion), and other (musical theater, spoken word) genres, and hail from San Francisco CA, Phoenix AZ, Naperville IL, and Dallas, Houston, and Galveston TX.

These artists bring a unique perspective to artmaking through their experiences growing up in and/or living in the United States, with cultural and artistic grounding in Indian classical tradition. They are uniquely positioned to make cultural connections with Western audiences with creativity that is rooted in various Indian classical arts but yet goes well beyond the framework of these art forms to embrace global influences and inspirations.

YUVA 2019 Artists

Maheswar Ajaykumar, Houston, TX – Mridangam
Prathiba Natesan, Dallas, TX – Bharatanatyam
Janani Ramachandran, Dallas, TX – Bharatanatyam
Anjana Ganesh, Houston, TX – Bharatanatyam
Akhil Gopakumar Nair, Houston, TX – Carnatic/Western violin
Sutikshna Veeravalli, Naperville, IL – Bharatanatyam, Carnatic vocal, composition
Athul Gopakumar Nair, Houston, TX – Carnatic/Western violin
Shreya Bandopadhyay, Dallas, TX – Kathak
Vaibhavi Mohan, Phoenix, AZ – Bharatanatyam, Carnatic vocal, musical theater
Diksha Rath, Houston, TX – Odissi
Vaibhavi Kulkarni, San Francisco, CA – Kathak