Instructors

Divya Swamy is an instructor at Kalamandapam. She began her training in Indian classical dance in Bharatanatyam at age 5 from Guru Ambika Sukumaran in New Jersey. After moving to Washington DC, began learning Kuchipudi at Kalamandapam in 2004 and feels lucky to have learned from Guru Mrinalini Sadananda, SathyaPriya Ramana and the many other wonderful visiting gurus. She works in foreign policy, sings Carnatic music, and runs a Girl Scout troop when she's not chasing after her almost 5 year old.

Siri began her dance journey at the early age of 6, and joined Kalamandapam at age 10 under the guidance of Smt. Mrinalini Sadananda. Since then, she has participated in ballets such as Andal Kalyanam and Bandsuram Charitham as well as dancing in several local temples and organizations in the Northern Virginia area. Throughout the years, Siri has been blessed with learning from various visiting masters from India such as Sri Bhagavatula Srinivasa Sharma, late Sri Mahankali Suryanarayana Sarma, Sri Srinivasa Devarakonda, Sri Aditya Anukula, and Dr. Sathyapriya Ramana. Along with Kuchipudi, Siri is interested in Veena and Carnatic music, performing various concerts for both. Siri has recently graduated from George Mason University, majoring in Community Health. She also finished her diploma in Kuchipudi dance from Aria University, furthering her knowledge of the dance form.

Chinmayee Bala began her training under Guru Smt. Mrinalini Sadananda at the age of 6 and has loved it ever since. She is now pursuing her Master's in Kuchipudi from the University of Silicon Andhra and has been teaching at Kalamandapam for the past several years. She helped start the virtual Margazhi performances during the Covid-19 pandemic and hopes to continue to use her art and knowledge of Kuchipudi to make an impact.

Jishna Ganguly is a versatile dancer trained in multiple Indian classical dance forms, including Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, and Karanas. With a passion for dance that started at the age of 3, Jishna grew up in Kolkata and pursued her engineering studies while simultaneously training in Bharatanatyam under the tutelage of renowned gurus such as Shilpi Baruri, Girija Murali, Venkit Kalalayam, and Anita Mallick. After moving to Chennai for work, Jishna discovered Kuchipudi and was immediately drawn to its beauty. She has been training in this style for over 10 years under the tutelage of Mrinalini Sadananda, Sathyapriya Ramana and other renowned gurus.

Pragathi Kollu, an instructor, was born and raised in Andhra Pradesh where she started learning the rudiments of Kuchipudi at the age of six. Since her childhood, she has developed a deep passion for the dance, which led her to become an acclaimed and talented dancer as an adult. Pragathi has been extensively performing in the east coast of the U.S. with a lot of enthusiasm and interest despite of her professional activity as a Software Engineer working for Freddie Mac.