Faculty

Our faculty at SUR are experienced & proficient in their respective art forms.

Arup Chattopadhyay

Arup Chattopadhyay is recognized as one of the most outstanding and sought after tabla artists of the younger generation. As a premier disciple of world-renowned maestro Pandit Shankar Ghosh, Arup established himself as a topnotch accompanist as well as a formidable soloist. Arup's performance is admired for its tonal quality, crystal clear bols, and sponteaneous sense of rhythm and melody. Arup began learning tabla at age six from his father, the eminent tabla player Shri Pankaj Chattopadhyay. He then came under the tutelage of Pt. Shankar Ghosh with whom he continues to train. Having acheived grade A status as an artist, Arup's performances are broadcasted on radio and TV throughout India. Arup accompanied many of the leading musicians of India such as Pt. Ravi Shankar, Ustad Rais Khan, Ustad Aashish Khan, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Pt. Kartik Kumar, Pt. Nayan Ghosh, Pt. Rajeev Taranah, Ronu Majumder, Ustad Nishat Khan, Pt. Ajay Chakarbarti, Lakhsmi Shankar, Pt. Rajan and Sajan Mishra, Ustad Rashid Khan, the late Pt. V.G. Jog, Pt. Manas Chakravarty, Pt. Arun Bhadhuri, Pt. Samaresh Choudhury, Pt. Satish Vyas, Tarun Bhattacharya, Tejendra Narayan Majumdar, Kushal Das, Niladr Kumar, Purbayan Chaterjee, Partha Bose, Partha Sarathi, and Debashish Bhattacharya. Since 1998 Arup has been honored to accompany the living legend Pt. Ravi Shankar in tours throughout the US, Canada, Europe, and India, including performances in Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Linclon Center, in US, and Barbican hall in London. Arup toured U.K. with Pt. Deepak Choudhury several times, and toured US and Bangladesh with Tejendra Narayan Majumdar in events hosted by SRA (Kolkata). Since 1997, Arup toured US, Canada, Austrailia, and Mexico with the Viruoso sitarist Kartik Seshadri. Arup is also highly sought as a teacher of tabla. He was a proffessor of tabla at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in London (Institute of Indian Culture). Since 1999 Arup has been visiting lecturer of tabla at the University of California, San Diego.

Kavitha Menon

Kavitha Menon started learning Bharathanatyam at the tender age of three under the renowned Bharathnatyam exponent “Kalamandalam” Sreedevi Sreenivasan, in Bahrain, where she was raised till her late teens. She continued to pursue Bharathnatyam and Mohiniyattam for more than 16 years. This included coaching in India under “Kalamandalam” Kshemavathy, a famous Mohiniyattom research scholar. Continuing to broaden her horizon, she took extensive training in Kuchupidi and won many accolades as recognition for her talent. She took her zeal for dancing a step further by obtaining a Masters in Communications. For her final thesis, she presented a comparative study of Kathak and Bharathanatyam, which required her to undertake training in Kathak. Her thirst for learning all genres of dance also led her to undertake training in Hip-hop, western free-style and Bollywood dances. Known for her Abhinayas (expressions) that flavor the magic of her dance, Kavitha has acted in famed theatrical musicals like Kalidasa (Malavika Agnimitra), Kambaramayana (Ravanaputri), Neeli (a folktale), and many more where her performances were highly acclaimed. She has featured on the coverpage of 'Gulf' magazine in recognition of her dance talents. She also participated in state-level inter-collegiate competitions and won the first prize for three consecutive years. Choreography comes naturally to Kavitha. Apart from choreographing classical dances, she takes great pleasure in creating fusion dances that blend the different dance styles. It is therefore no surprise that she was awarded 'Best Choreographer award for Contemporary Indian Dance' in Manipal, India. She continues to perform in different cultural and charity events held in Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego. Currently pursuing her Masters in Computer Science, she still endeavors to take up every opportunity to keep dance alive in her and to impart knowledge in this art to the students of SUR Music and Dance academy.

Padmaja

Padmaja Acharya is an exponent in Bharatnatyam and Odissi dance forms. She was trained in Kathak and Manipuri folk dance at a tender age of four and started learning Bharatnatyam at the age of seven from Kalakhsetra under guru Vijayalakshmi in Chennai. Kalakhsetra is one of the most prestigious and finest institutions for dance in India and boasts churning out some of the most eminent dancers. After seven years of training she performed her Arangetram at Music Academy in Chennai and moved on to perform at various concerts along with Padma Shri Smt. Chitra Visveswaran. She performed for regional and national channels, the Singapore TV and various children’s programmes specially composed for metro channels. She has also attended various workshops held by Dr. Padma Subramaniam including those on special adaptations for challenged and underprivileged children. Her father being in the Directorate General of Shipping, a government job, the various transfers to different cities was a very enriching experience. She performed various dance ballets under guru Adilakshmi of Vizag and later learnt Odissi under Guru Natabar Maharana an exponent of temple and Chau dance forms in Mumbai. After taking a break from dance to complete her graduation and post graduation she trained under Shiamak Davar from SDIPA in contemporary, hip hop, jazz, salsa and indo jazz dance forms. She was a part of his troupe for performances at NCPA auditorium in Mumbai. She has choreographed a number of group and individual performances in the classical and traditional mode as well as in modern fast paced compositions. Equally adept in the role play of mythical characters as well as contemporary styles of Abhinaya and Nrithy her perceptive portrayals of mythological characters in various innovative renditions of the classical form has won her wide acclaim, especially in temple dance forms. She has also been instrumental in participating, choreographing and organizing dance competitions at school and college level. She won numerous awards in classical dance competitions and has also judged many such performances at regional level. Her image of repertoire across a wide range of classical and modern dance forms is an asset for institutional dance training and she is eager to share this with SUR Music and Dance Academy.

Smita Venkatesh

Smita Venkatesh, co-founder of SUR Music & Dance Academy, has a passion for Indian heritage and spirituality. Being the daughter of renowned Indian Spiritual Guru Swami Divya Chetnanand, Smita was trained in Hindu scriptures and mythology from an early age. She started teaching Bala Gurukulam classes in California in 2006 as a way to share her knowledge with children that were born and raised in the United States. She has combined her detailed knowledge of Indian culture with her own background in Indian musical theatre to create a syllabus that is educational and appealing for young minds. She teaches Indian crafts such as clay pottery and fine arts, along with directing and producing children's mythological plays.

Suman Laha

Suman Laha started learning north Indian classical music at an early age from his granduncle, late Shri Nodu Mullick, who created and maintained the musical instruments of maestros Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. He was then groomed in the purest Senia Gharana by the eminent master, Pandit Shyamal Chattopadhyay. More recently, Suman continues his tutelage under Ustad Aashish Khan, son of sarod maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. Suman is a first class first “Sura Shree” at Bangiya Sangeet kala Kendra, Kolkata . He plays Guitar and Mohan Veena in all talas ( beat cycles ), all layas ( speed ) along with rare Ragas and uncommon Talas. Suman's rendition of music covers a wide spectrum of power, emotion, variety, and above all, superb musicality. Suman is also an All India Radio and Television artist. He has performed in prestigious musical conferences such as Dhrupad festival in Varanasi, music concerts in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and other cities in India. He has also performed at the Gangotsav, an orchestra arranged by Ustad Amjad Ali Khan in Kolkata. Suman has performed in Tagore Center ( Indian Embassy ) in Berlin and D.I.G. concerts in various cities in Germany, along with Spain, Italy, France, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. In the United States, Suman has been performing since 2001. Some of the organizations include Los Angeles Valley College, Raag and Taal in South Bay, East West Cultural Center, Bangladesh Academy, Dakshini, Vedanta Society, at the Bangladesh Consulate, Shivaranjani Arts Academy, Vijay Amritraj Charity Foundation and the California African American Museum. Suman has numerous students of all ages and occupations in greater Los Angeles and Phoenix. He has also acted as judge for several music competitions and performances over the years in India and abroad. Recently in LA he was the judge for the Singing Competition of the Amateurs Club and for the music diploma examination for IKCA, Los Angeles. Suman is eager to continue his venture in propagating Indian classical music through SUR Music and Dance Academy.

Venkatesh Sankaran

Venkatesh Sankaran, along with his wife Smita Venkatesh, founded SUR Music & Dance Academy in 2009. Today the Academy teaches Indian Music (Vocal & Instrumental) & Dance to students of all ages across Southern California and in Sunnyvale (Northern California). A Vocal & Keyboard teacher himself in the Academy, Venkatesh has devised a very unique and extremely popular curriculum for both Vocal & Keyboard classes. Venkatesh also trains kids & adults for popular music shows & competitions being held on TV, local community events & Universities. A composer, song writer & music director, Venkatesh has to his credit few songs & background scores written & composed for singers & private labels. Recently one of his songs has been chosen by Hungama Entertainment, India for an album. Venkatesh is also, currently working on Musicals which would be part of The Musical Minds & Mango Beats Dance Production. In addition, Venkatesh is actively involved in organizing cultural programs to promote Indian performing arts for various non-profit & religious organizations.