Renjith

Renjith Babu is an artist from South India who exemplifies the best in dance, yoga, and martial arts. He creatively mixes elements from each discipline to push traditional boundaries and inspire imagination. Through his diligent study of dance, yoga, and martial arts, Renjith has developed a scientific and spiritual understanding of the human body and its movements. He combines these traditions of yoga and martial arts with his modern artistic sensitivity to leave his audience inspired. Renjith's extreme command over his body movements and expressions allows his vision to translate seamlessly into remarkable performance. The perfection and stylistic accessibility of his performances are extolled not just by critics and connoisseurs, but also by audiences uninitiated with the finer points of the dance form.
His initiation into Bharatanatyam, the South Indian dance form, occurred at the age of 5, under the tutelage of Smt. Prasanna Prakash (Kerala, India). His inherent flair for the art led him to explore higher grounds at the world renowned Kalakshetra (Chennai, India) where he acquired his dance diploma in the year 2000. Soon after Renjith’s graduation, his talent and artistry were recognized by the Cultural Ministry, Government of India and he was awarded the ‘Outstanding Artist’ scholarship to continue studying Bharatanatyam. He began his advanced training under the veteran Guru. Prof. Sri C.V. Chandrasekhar and continues till date. Renjith is also extensively trained in Kalaripayattu, a beautiful martial art form of Kerala.
A Master Yogi and a practitioner of Yoga since 1996, his initial training in Yoga began in Kalakshetra and continued at the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center in Kerala and Tamil Nadu where he was conferred the title of ‘Yoga Acharya’ for having successfully completed the Advanced Teachers Training Course. Recently, Renjith had the unique opportunity to assist his Yoga teacher, Srivatsa Ramaswami in his work for his book called “The Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga”. He was involved in the research of the effect of performing Vinyasa Yoga on body organs and functionality. Renjith was also photographed and featured as a Vinyasa practitioner in the same book.
Renjith has been featured as the principal dancer in acclaimed dance productions of senior gurus such as Prof. C.V. Chandrasekhar and “The Dhananjayans”. He also has to his credit, lead roles in productions of Smt. Malathi Iyengar (Rangoli Foundation, L.A., USA) and Cleveland Cultural Alliance (Ohio, USA). Renjith’s portrayal of the characters he has played in these performances have achieved legendary fame and are consistently used as a benchmark by other performers.
In the year 2002, Renjith started his own dance training school in Chennai - Sāraswatham Foundation. At present he along with his dance and life partner, Vijna Vasudevan use their multidisciplinary approach to inspire students in identifying their mind-body connection. Renjith’s expertise has been enlisted by several dance schools in India, Australia and the United States where he has conducted both Bharatanatyam and Yoga classes at all levels of training. He is able to instruct students in varied aspects of Bharatanatyam including dance theory, rhythm construction and intonation.
An imaginative and vivid choreographer, Renjith’s creative works have been received with accolades the world over among the Indian Dance Diaspora. His collaborations with leading artists have also resulted in the creation of some very widely appreciated productions. Renjith is representative of the small group of professional choreographers and dancers in the contemporary world of Indian artists, who has the ability to electrify an audience with sheer creativity and dazzling movements.

CREDENTIALS :
“Renjith is a born dancer developing his abilities with sincere efforts and dedicated approach to the art. It has been a pleasure teaching and working with him in my group productions and training him for his solo concerts. With a thorough training in Yoga, he brings perfection and new dimensions to his Nritta. His abhinaya is very involved and deep. His calibre to improvise on stage makes him stand out in a group. No wonder Renjith is in great demand as a guest dancer in many productions the world over.
His experience as a creative dancer on stage brings out his choreographic talents so much that while working under different choreographers he is able to contribute a lot to the final outcome of the choreography. As a teacher too, Renjith has been doing excellent work, paying attention to details while teaching. Performances by his students have brought laurels and credits to him.”
- Prof Shri C.V. Chandrasekhar Veteran Bharatanatyam Artiste - Chennai

“His passion and dedication for dance is unsurpassed. Renjith is a talented dancer, teacher, Yoga specialist, and a choreographer. In all these years of our continued association, I have come to admire and appreciate his generosity and team spirit. His most memorable work has been in my choreographic work ‘Punyakoti’, where he performed the role of Tiger with utmost authenticity and conviction. Renjith simply lived the character to its fullest. He performed the role of Patanjali with ease and incorporated Yoga based movements profusely. Renjith has been an asset to our company.”
- Smt Malathi Iyengar, Director of Rangoli Foundation - Los Angeles

".... Renjith is a quintessential dancer who represents the pure technique of Bharata Natyam... His dance breathes the restraint and subtleties so essential of the Kalakshetra style. His background in Kalari payattu, Yoga and Kathakali kernels out all the finest elements for a male dancer. His dance is so perfectly defined that it could serve as an ideal reference for a book on the basics of Bharatanatyam. His knowledge of music and rhythm is a great asset as a Nattuvanar and also in the execution of complex Jathi sequences. Ranjith is a joy to watch for he transcends technique and affects the audience with the bliss of dance - Shankar Kandasamy, Assistant Director, The Temple of fine Arts, Malaysia

Periasami

Mr.Periasami is Rtd.IRS officer. During his service itself he was closely associated with Art of Living and conducting corporate programmes for officers as service. Now settled at Thiruvanamalai, Sri Ramanapadam. And he is a faculty member of Arunagiri Yoga Vidyapeet.

He is conducting corporate yoga programs for Private and Government officers. During his service for poor village children through conducting yoga classes and giving awarness classes for cleanliness and well being.