Artistic Director/Choreographer and Dancer

Anuradha Nag

“Dance gives me the inner joy, peace and control over all emotions. After bathing in that blissful state, life around me seems so beautiful.”

~Smt. Anuradha Nag

Artistic Director/Choreographer and Dancer Anuradha Nag

Anuradha Nag had her initial training from Nataraj Parimal Krishna and later from veteran gurus-the legendary Padmavibhushan Pandit Birju Maharaj and his foremost disciple Pandit Vijai Shankar. She advanced her abhinaya under the tutelage of Padmabushan Smt. Kalanidhi Narayan. She passed the Nritya Prabhakar with distinction at the tender age of 13. She stood 1st in the Pashchim Banga Nikhil Bharatiyo Competition. She taught Kathak at all levels at the Padatik Dance Center in Kolkata and choreographed for the school’s festivals. She has also worked with the mentally challenged children at the Manovikas Kendra for 5 years giving them the joy through dance. Before making USA her home she was a recommended artist for the Sangeet Natak Akademi as well as the Indian Council of Cultural Relations. She had the privilege of working with great gurus and choreographers such as Pt. Birju Maharaj, Smt. Kumudini Lakhia, Smt. Kalanidhi Narayanan and Prof. Deitmar Seyffert of Germany. She has also worked with great theater directors such as Padmabhusan Satyadev Dubey, Shyamanand Jalan, and Anmol Vellani.

Anuradha has been a guest speaker in the Cultural Anthropology department at UC Santa Cruz for several years, presenting Kathak and its influence on Bollywood. She was also invited to speak at the Department of Religious Studies at UC Davis as part of an interactive workshop that examined body disciplining techniques, principles of improvisation, and elements of rhythm. She has also presented at multiple local school districts to promote Indian culture.

Tarangini School of Kathak Dance was established by Anuradha Nag in 1992 in the Bay Area (San Jose, California). It is an institution of learning that promotes awareness and preservation of the rich heritage of Kathak dance. Anuradha grooms well over two hundred students in this rich, age-old tradition year after year. Her students have performed at the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, the International Kathak Festival in San Francisco and Chicago, and other festivals. 

Anuradha has choreographed many traditional and contemporary themes, including Jhalkia, Om, Rituranga, Khoj,Chitrangshu, Rabindranath Tagore’s short story Khuditopashan (The Hungry Stones), Jeevandhara (highlighting the life and works of Rabindranath Tagore), Panchapravaah, Kathak through the Bollywood Lane, Yatra (Kathak’s journey through world music), Rasa & Nayika, Ragangikam, Chaturanga, Varnacitrita, Chahat, Smriti Maalika, Khoj, Samavaya and Krishna Viraha amongst others.

Anuradha has performed extensively in prestigious music conferences in India and in dance festivals throughout the world. Highlights of her blossoming career include some performances at:

Performances

  • Sarad Chandrika Festival, New Delhi, India.

  • Kalka Bindadin Mahotsav, New Delhi, India.

  • Vasant Utsav, New Delhi, India.

  • The Soorya dance festival in Trivandrum, India.

  • Kal- ke- Kalakar, Mumbai where she was awarded the title of “Sringarmani” by the Sur Sringar Samsad Mumbai.

  • Dover Lane Music Conference, Kolkata, India.

  • Park Circus Music Conference, Kolkata, India.

  • Tamluk Music Conference.

  • Sadarang Music Conference, Kolkata, India.

  • Performed at the Vrindavan Sarad Utsav.

  • Performed in front of the Vietnamese delegation in Kolkata.

  • The ICCR and Birla Academy presented her jointly in a solo recital in Kolkata, India.

  • As a part of the Padatik Troupe sponsored by the ITC 3 city tours namely Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Nagpur, Lucknow, Patna, Trivandrum, Cochin and Coimbatore.

  • Ali Akbar College of Music Summer Concert Series, Berkeley California

  • For Asha at Berkeley, ILP at Stanford.

  • Beethoven Festival, Bakersfield, California

  • Canada Dance Festival, Ottawa.

  • Asian Arts Performing Series, San Francisco.

She was sponsored by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations as a member of the Padatik Dance Center troupe to perform and hold workshops at the Kuopio Music and Dance Festival, Kuopio and other cities in Finland. Performed for the Indian High Commission in Oslo, Norway, Denmark and other parts of Europe.

  • At the Asian Arts Museum on the occasion of Indian’s 50th Independence day Celebration.

  • Arts Space Project, New York.

  • She performed at the University of Hawaii, also for the World Bank in Washington DC and NIH in Maryland.

  • She was invited as a guest artist to perform at the International Kathak Festival in Chicago.

  • Performed at the centenary celebration of the Indian Institute Of Sciences in Santa Clara, California.

  • Performed for the annual conference of The Indus Entrepreneurs.

Press Comments

Anuradha has a pleasing stage personality with seriousness and sincerity. Her execution of bols and chakradhars was enjoyable, and her control in tala and laya praiseworthy……

Statesman, Kolkata

Anuradha Lahiri (Nag) impressed one in her abhinaya item from Geeta Govindam, “Yahi Madhava, Yahi Keshava”. Her portrayal of the khandita nayika was effective. Did her pure dance items like paran, bol, tehai with easy command of rhythm.….

Times of India, Bombay

Anuradha Lahiri (Nag) possesses a striking stage presence, and her extremely graceful movements have the lucid and poetic quality of the Lucknow gharana.

Telegraph, Kolkata

Her excellent footwork, flawless chakkars, and chisel movements were the hallmark of her performance. The executions of tehais and tukras in both off-beat and on-beat were well controlled and exposed her strong sense of tala and laya….

Telegraph, Kolkata

A vivacious and obviously accomplished Anuradha Lahiri (Nag) presented Rhumjhum on the theme of a lady suffering the pangs of separation from her beloved with appropriate facial expression and grace. Anuradha excelled in her exposition of Jhaptal…..

Sunday Mail

Anuradha, in particular, with her chiseled features and impeccable taiyarri, is guaranteed to go places, if given a chance.

Business Standard, Kolkata

A strikingly beautiful woman, Nag is an artist of steely temperament whose control over her body is as precise and disciplined as it is poetic and suggestive. There is a fire as well as ice in her art, especially in her facial expressions. Nag’s face was an absolutely plastic mask that signified demureness, curiosity, fear, desire and ecstasy.

The Bakersfield Californian