About Us
Kuchipudi Dance Center was established in 2001 with a mission to promote Indian art and culture, as well as to enhance the human aesthetic values through Kuchipudi. It is our constant endeavor to maintain a high standard of cultural achievements while promoting the traditional Indian cultural and moral values among all, particularly the youth in America.
About School
Kuchipudi Dance Center has numerous students who are currently enrolled and are actively training under the guidance of Guru Indira Sreeram Leela, who brings an asset of more than 20 years of teaching and choreography experience. While some students pursue Junior and Senior certificate courses, few others have pursued and successfully earned their master’s degree in Kuchipudi.
Over the years, Guru Indira Sreeram Leela has trained and guided several students of Kuchipudi Dance Center, who went on to participate and perform in many local and national programs.
About Guru
Guru Indira Sreerama Leela, who hails from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, is the founder and Artistic Director of Kuchipudi Dance Center.
Indira Sreerama Leela started learning traditional dance forms very young and did her Bharatanatyam Arangetram at age 9, under the tutelage of Guru Mythili Kumar. She then started training in Kuchipudi dance form at Kuchipudi Art Academy in Chennai where her Guru was Kalaprapoorna Padma Bhushan Dr. Vempati Chinna Satyam garu. Being blessed with over 15 years of dedicated training under an eminent Guru, Indira Sreerama Leela learnt the intricacies of Kuchipudi dance form and went on to become a professional Kuchipudi artist and performer.
Guru Indira Sreerama Leela
Indira Sreeram Leela has not only performed in most of the major Indian cities but also toured several countries across the globe. Having been a distinguished member of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR), Indira Sreeram Leela was invited to showcase her finesse in Kuchipudi in major dance festivals of India held abroad. Under the guidance of her Guru and as a member of the Government of India’s ICCR entourage, she has toured former Soviet Union, Europe, Canada and the USA.
She later moved to New Jersey in the USA, where she established her dance school – Center for Kuchipudi Dance. Over the last two decades, Guru Indira Sreeram Leela and her students have successfully orchestrated opening acts and performed in numerous cultural events in the Tri-state area, that were hosted by various local and national Indian associations.
She also had the pleasure of coordinating, organizing, curating as well as working on collaborative presentations with many well-known artists from India. Her collaborations include eminent artists like Padmasri Shobha Naidu (Navarasa Natabhamini), Sri Radha Raja Reddys, Smt. Manju Bhargavi (Sri Lalitha Nrutyharchanam), Madurai Muralidharan / Uma Muralikrishna (Sense Beyond), K.V. Satyanarayna (Amuktyamalyada), Padmaja Reddy (Srikrishna Parijatham), Sri Vempati Ravi Shankar, Ghazal Srinivas to name a few.
Indira Sreeram Leela’s passion for Kuchipudi and her dedication to promote the art has earned her immense recognition as a performing artist, teacher, and a choreographer. These varied roles give Indira Sreeram Leela several avenues to share the beauty of Kuchipudi art form. Time and again, she comes up with innovative and vibrant choreography to effectively communicate the beauty of this art to diverse audiences. Through her school and her students, Guru Indira Sreeram Leela continues to promote and propagate Kuchipudi, the traditional dance form of Andhra Pradesh, to the Indian American community in the Tri-state area.
In addition to being a highly qualified and well trained Kuchipudi dancer from a prestigious institution, Guru Indira Sreeram Leela is also equally well qualified academically. She has a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) and a Diploma in Yoga and Naturopathy, from Chennai University.
Indira Sreeram Leela has been working in the IT industry for the past 25 years while actively following her true calling, which is to teach and promote Kuchipudi dance to the younger generations in the USA.
