Rukmini Vijayakumar

Rukmini, is the Artistic Director of her Classical Dance Company Raadha Kalpa and Director of her Art-Space LshVa.
Rukmini's style is a summation of all her learning and experiences. Her primary training and rigorous practice has been in Bharatanatyam. Initiated into the form by Guru Padmini Rao, she later pursued a deeper study and understanding of Bharatanatyam under Late Guru Narmada Rao. Her Bharatanatyam practice and ideas of movement are influenced greatly by her training under Guru Sundari Santhanam, in Karanas (the research of Dr. Padma Subramanyam). Her Bharatanatyam practice doesn't confine itself to a particular style, but more to an aesthetic and dynamic choice that varies from one choreography to another.

Yoga, Ballet, and Acting became a part of her training through her teenage years. She went on to intensify her training and practice in Modern Dance and Ballet at the Boston Conservatory, obtaining a BFA in Modern Dance and Ballet. At the conservatory, she developed an awareness of the physical body that influenced her practice of Bharatanatyam. Her approach to choreography and movement changed through her 4 years of intense training in Boston, and her study in the pedagogy of western movement forms made her find new avenues of training the body for Bharatanatyam.