Smt. Ketaki Ghanekar

Founder & Director, Nrityam School of Dance

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Ketaki Ghanekar began learning Bharatanatyam at the age of eight in Mumbai, encouraged by parents who remain the earliest inspiration in her dance journey. She trained under the great Guru Vidya Subramaniam (Patel), completed her Arangetram in 1999, and earned a master's degree in Indian Classical Dance from the Arts Society of Mumbai.

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She began by teaching her own daughters. What started at home grew into something larger: in 2012 she founded Nrityam School of Dance, so that families across Kansas City could learn Bharatanatyam as she had in the classical tradition.

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Today she teaches students from age four through adult, guiding them through a ten-level curriculum toward Arangetram — the graduation recital in which a dancer performs the full range of her technique before a live audience and live musicians brought from India for the occasion. Six of her students have completed their Arangetram in the past two years — the first graduates of a school she founded in 2012.

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Ketaki marks the rhythm herself on the nattuvangam, the small hand-cymbals particular to the style.  Classes stay small.

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"It takes many years of learning. It's not something you can just study briefly — it's practice, and it's commitment."

​Her students have performed at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's Passport to India festival, among other events across the Kansas City area.

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"I tell the students: when you are here, don't think about anything else. Just focus on yourself and concentrate on learning. Your mind and body must be aligned to stay focused."

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Everyone is welcome to learn. Traditionally men were the gurus and the musicians while women danced, but those roles have changed.

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Come and meet her. The first class is free, with no obligation.

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​Press

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"Bharatanatyam traces its roots back more than 2,000 years… Widely regarded as the oldest dance form still being performed today." — Paul Horsley, The Independent, "Deep Roots: Ancient dance form of India has survived dynasties, wars, colonization"

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[Read the full article → https://kcindependent.com/deep-roots-ancient-dance-form-of-india-has-survived-dynasties-wars-colonization/

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Ketaki also contributed the article's companion piece, More Than Just Dance.​​