About - On Stage
Roots
Urmika was raised in the city of Philadelphia, hopping between school (Central High 260) and dance class on every form of public transportation imaginable. She began dancing at age four with an emphasis in ballet, but also studied tap, jazz and Indian folk dance. Her first choreography at the age of 13 (a ballet composition to a Tagore song, sung in Bengali and French) was performed at the opening ceremony of the Seventeenth North American Bengali Convention in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. In the same year she began her formal training in the South Indian classical dance style of Bharata Natyam, and at age 17 she completed her Arangetram (solo-dance debut) from the Nardhana Academy of Dance under the tutelage of Ramaa Ramesh, senior dance instructor from Padmashri Chitra Vishweswaran’s school in Chennai, India (Chidambaram Academy of Performing Arts).
New Seeds
In Washington D.C., Urmika minored in dance at the George Washington University. A year of modern dance with Tommy Parlon, western dance history with Mary Buckley, dance in the Islamic world with Laurel Victoria Gray, and a theory class on Gender and classical Indian dance with Nilimma Devi, were enough to engage Urmika academically and creatively. She was a work-study student at Dance Place, taking modern classes with Carla Perlo and Deborah Riley, as well as a performance class with Nejla Yatkin, and the fieldwork lab with Laura Schandelmeier.
Classical Growth
Simultaneous to modern dance, Urmika pursued classical Indian dance theory and movement. She studied Bharata Natyam theory with Thankamani Kutti in Calcutta, and expanded her depth of movement through the study of another South Indian classical dance form, Kuchipudi, with Nilimma Devi. Returning to the Nardhana Dance Academy and her Guru Ramaa Ramesh, Urmika had the opportunity to live and study with the founder of the Viswesweran style- Padmashri Chitra Vishweswaran.
Contemporary Growth
Collaborations with dancers from other Classical Indian Dance forms, Kathak and Odissi, further refined Urmika’s concept of movement, space, and dimension. From 2004 – 2005 she danced with the Tehreema Mitha Dance Company, where she trained in the Kalakshetra style of Bharata Natyam, and Tehreema’s contemporary style of dance.
Offering
Urmika performs traditional Bharata Natyam items in the Vishweswaran style, as well as original choreographies influenced by her varied training. Newer works incorporate visual media, text and spoken word. Foremost, they are not meant to be solely aesthetic, but are intended to challenge the intellect and provoke discussion on society, culture and politics.
