Shyamala has been a dancer for over thirty years, and an active choreographer for the past ten. After her initial Bharatanatyam training, she has been a student of Toronto’s Menaka Thakkar since 1981, and has attended master classes in Winnipeg and Chennai, India under Guru Kalanidhi Narayan and the late Guru Kittappa Pillai. She performed her arangetram in 1985 and her advanced level Nrityarchana in 1990. She has also danced with Hema Rajagopalan’s Natya Dance Theatre in Chicago. A founding member of Manohar, Shyamala is noted for her clear nuanced abhinaya. She has created many dramatic roles with Manohar, including Amba/ Sikhandin in The Vow, the Yogini in Alchemyth, Uma in the restaged Yatra/Journey, Princess Chandravati in La Bayadère – The Temple Dancer and Draupadi in the Game. She appeared in Guy Maddin’s film “The Saddest Music in the World”. Shyamala commemorated twenty years of performance with Continuum in May 2005; she was also seen in Kirchian. Shyamala has a strong interest in theatre and stage production and she is involved with all the creative aspects of scriptwriting, staging and lighting design for Manohar productions.

Photograph by
Dan Kern