A humble beginning in 1975 with two students in the first class, a journey fraught with many highs, some lows, many joys, much sorrow, pain and loss of loved ones, and a disaster called Harvey, all of these have made the Anjali Center for Performing Arts what it is today – an institute that is strong, resilient, tenacious, and doggedly pursuing the goals it has set for itself, of preserving, promoting and propagating the traditional and authentic classical arts of India.
Anjali Center owes its growth and success as much to its students and their parents, the Anjali ‘family’, as to the inspiration of its greatest proponent, the late Anil Kumar, and the single-minded dedication of its Founder and Director, Rathna Kumar, Assistant Director Venugopal Josyula and Acharyas Sangeeta Ramachandran and Archana Sharma, who gave many of our beginner students the strong foundation that is so important to their training.
Good fortune comes in different forms. Seetha Ratnakar and Krishna Giri, two brilliantly artistic individuals with a wonderfully original approach to art, have done wonders for Anjali’s productions, with Seetha designing the lighting and costumes, and even scripting stories, and Krishna taking charge of the graphics and creating magically beautiful program invitations and brochures. Krishna Giri, Navin Mediwala, Murali Santhana, Jake Hellbach and Amitava Sarkar have gifted Anjali Center with the most memorable photographs and videos of various shows, helping us archive our work year after year.
The Anjali Center has also been blessed to be recognized for its sincere and quality work by every Consul General of India that has graced this city with his presence – Mr. Swashpawan Singh, Mr. Rinzing Wangdi, Mr. Skand Ranjan Tayal, Mr. Shashi Shekhar Gavai, Mr. Sanjiv Arora, Mr. Harish Parvathaneni, Dr. Anupam Ray and Mr. Aseem Mahajan. We are immensely grateful to all of them. We are particularly grateful to Dr. Anupam Ray for going a step further by becoming the first Consul General to co-sponsor Samskriti’s production of Incredible India at Miller Outdoor Theatre, celebrating India’s Independence Day.
Anjali is proud to have had the opportunity to nurture the talent of the sprightly daughter of Mrs. Nandita and Consul General Harish Parvathaneni, Amani, who studied Kuchipudi Under Mrs. Rathna Kumar for 3 1/2 years.
We can boast of several winners and runners-up in state and national dance competitions – Aneesha Srikar, Bharath Guntupalli, Geethanjali Vipulanandan, Isha Parupudi and Samyuktha Hari (National Foundation for the Arts / YoungArts winners) Sinthuja Devarajan (Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival, First Place), Anitha Shankar and Isha Parupudi (Texas Young Masters’ Fellowship winners) and Isha Parupudi (2019 Presidential Scholar). These talented young dancers have brought name and fame to their teachers and their institute, and we are supremely proud of their artistic achievements.
It is difficult to rise above mediocrity without the encouragement and blessings of our elders, especially our parents and Gurus. Rathna Kumar acknowledges her indebtedness to all the following inspirational people in her life – Kalaprapoorna Dr. A. Anasuya Devi, Vinjamuri Seetha Devi, Vinjamuri Prabhakar, Kalaimamani K. J. Sarasa, Padma Bhushan Dr. Vempati Chinna Satyam, “Maatha, Pitha, Guru Deivam”!
Today, the Anjali Center is a microcosm of joy and vibrancy. It has its own beautiful space where music and tabla lessons are also taught, and has stood the test of time and proved that teachers do change lives. Sincerity, knowledge of the subject, scholarship, authenticity, respect for India’s rich cultural heritage and traditions, and willingness to go beyond the call of duty, have earned the Anjali Center for Performing Arts a high reputation. It now has branches in Sugar Land, the Woodlands, Clear Lake City, and near the Medical Center. World renowned dance Gurus, dancers, musicians and scholars have left their footprints in the Center – Dr. Vempati Chinna Satyam, Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam, the Dhananjayans, Alarmel Valli, Raja & Radha Reddy, Malavika Sarukkai, Rama Vaidyanathan, Priyadarshini Govind, Ramli Ibrahim, Jonathan Hollander, Aruna Mohanty, Hari Krishnan, Davesh Soneji, Leela Venkataraman, Sruti Pattabhiraman, Dr. Sunil Kothari, Pt. Jasraj, Rahul Sharma, Vijay Ghate, Ranjani & Gayathri and Malladi Brothers. The Center is blessed to have welcomed so many great people, and its students and staff are the fortunate recipients of their goodwill.