Initial Training & Teaching Journey |
Starting at age 9, Priti Patil learnt Bharata Natyam with Guru Shri Mani of Kalasadan Institute of Fine Arts in Mumbai for four years. She has been learning from Uma Chetty since the year 2000. With guidance from Uma, Priti completed her Arangetram in 2006 and conducted a Bharatha Natyam workshop for dance students at Thomas Dale High School.
Priti was an associate teacher with Apsaras Arts Dance Group from 2005 till 2020. In 2015, Prti also designed and developed their website. Priti has brought more than 18 of her students to the level of solo debut performance and successfully planned and managed each event that has life-cycle of more than a year. Priti also has created invitation, brochure and flier designs for a few of these and many such Apsaras events. Samples of few of her invitations, brochures and fliers design are provided here:
Since 2020, With encouragement from her teacher, Priti started teaching independently under the banner of Kalasattva - which means Essence of the Arts. Pandemic had a big impact on teaching of this dance form, but Priti survived and thrived using online sessions. In fact, she used this period to learn theoretical aspect of this ancient dance form by studying them under the masters from India. Priti studied topics like Fundamentals of Indian Arts, Abhinaya Darpanam, and Sage Bharata's NATYASHASTRA.
She studied the Sanskrit Language and led other teachers study these ancient treatises first hand. This provided depth to her understanding of this artform, its teaching and choreography. |
Advance
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Priti is a performing artist on the roster of Young Audiences of Virginia (pg. 40). Through YAV, she has performed in various schools, libraries, Dogwood Dell Summer Festival of Arts in 2008 & 2010, and at the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, during their December 2nd Saturday Family Day. She has also learned from renowned visiting artists & scholars from India like Mrs. Shanta and Mr. V.P. Dhananjayan , Mrs. Leela Samson, Dr. Sucheta Bhide-Chapekar, Mrs. Ramaa Bharadvaj, Mrs. Gayatri Balagurunathan, Mr. Parimal Phadke, & Mrs. Deepa Ganesh.
Duing Pandemic, Priti learned under maestros and presented Guru Vandanam, ode to Gurus with her daughter and student Vibha Patil to honor her illustrious master teachers The Dhananjayans. In that year, she also |
Growth &
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Priti has taught master classes for the dance students at VCU and Center for Performing Arts. She has successfully conceived, lead and executed various collaborative programs in collaboration with: VMFA, Gamelan Raga Kusuma, University of Richmond Global Sounds Concert, Chaturang school of Kathak, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) school of World Studies, Nrithya School of Kuchipudi Dance, Gandharva School of Music, and School of Carnatic Music. Priti was also listed in the curated Teaching Artists Roster of Virginia Commission for Arts During the years 2012-14
Priti translated a well acclaimed Marathi book "Nrityatmika" by Smt. Sucheta Bhide-Chapekar to English, so that Sucheta tai's well-researched essays and research work can be appreciated by younger generations in all around India and also by International diaspora of Indian Classical dance teachers, students and enthusiasts. This book was published by Padmashri Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar on Dec 06, 2018 at Pune, India.
In 2019, VMFA commissioned an original dance program in conjunction with their exhibit related to Buddha's journey of enlightenment.
Priti worked with local musicians and Jain community to present this original work that contained new composition, special choreography, lighting and props. It was presented at VMFA and later on at the JSCVA (Jain Society of Central Virginia's auditorium) upon their invitation. |
Dance and
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Priti has also successfully used this dance form as a medium of instruction for World Religions classes, and presented a comparative study of Christianity and this dance form as a spiritual art with collaboration of world religion professor Late Mr. Dan Smith who taught at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Priti has also choreographed various items to represent Jain prayer songs and Marathi 'abhang's, and she conducted a "Storytelling with the Vocabulary of Hand Gestures" workshop in "Spirituality & Arts" conference at VCU in April 2015. She conducted classes at the Oshar Lifelong Learning Institute at University of Richmond for "Introduction to Jain Philosophy" and "Storytelling using Hand Gestures" in 2019.
Priti conceived, scripted, and directed an original 1-hour production depicting the story of 24th Jain Tirthankara Mahavir (born 599 BCE) that was choreographed using two devotional dance forms - Indian Classical dance of Bharatanataym and Indian Folk dance of Raas-Garba. This project was commissioned by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond VA.
Lord Mahavir was an enlightened being who practiced Jainism, an Indian religion teaching a path to spiritual purity and enlightenment through disciplined nonviolence. This production offers the opportunity for guests to pause from the clamor of daily living, contemplate and reflect on Lord Mahavir’s meaningful journey. |
Audio/Video
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As part of being a valuable member of the Apsaras Arts Dance Group, Priti has also worked extensively on audio and video editing, Video archival for the dance group and creating short clips for publicity or portfolio. One of them, combining Dance and Non-Profit can be seen here...
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