“Bharatanatyam is an art oceanic in width and depth. I have taken you a few steps on its shore. I hope the vision you have had of this ocean will inspire you to dive into it and cull its pearls yourself.”
Aggie Brenneman
Aggie Brenneman has been teaching dance lessons in the SF Bay Area for over 30 years, after having lived in India, Nepal and Malaysia for nine years. She studied Bharatanatyam with the renowned Thanjavur Balasaraswati and her daughter, Lakshmi Knight, at the Center for World Music in Berkeley, the American Dance Festivals at Connecticut College and Duke University, and at their home in Chennai, India. She was awarded a grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities to research mythology and to study with Smt. Shyamala, a disciple of Balasaraswati in India. Aggie has performed in the US, India, Nepal and Malaysia. In early 2016 she assisted Aniruddha Knight, grandson of Balasaraswati, in teaching dance at his school in Chennai. Aggie was a classroom teacher at Park Day School in Oakland for 30 years where she began a Bharatanatyam program that has reached over 500 students of diverse backgrounds. She now serves as a docent at the SF Asian Art Museum. Through her involvement in Bharatanatyam, Aggie strives to preserve the ancient dance tradition of the South Indian Tanjore Court in the style of T. Balasaraswati.
DEEPA PREETI
NATARAJAN
Deepa has been assisting Aggie in teaching the dance classes for eight years. A graduate of Boston University, Deepa grew up in Ohio in a Tamilian family where she was trained in many dance forms throughout her education including ballet, modern, West African and many more, all but Bharatanatyam. She began studying Bharatanatyam with Aggie 9 years ago and has also studied with Smt. Shyamala in Chennai, India where her family is from. In 2011 Deepa performed her Arangetram, the graduation performance of a solo dancer with a group of live musicians. Deepa loves teaching and has spearheaded a program for our youngest dancers that highlights the rich stories told in Bharatanatyam. Deepa loves plants and natural dyes and works for the UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley organizing educational programs. She is actively involved with the Sangati Center for South Asian Music, an organization founded by her Carnatic vocalist husband Gautam Tejas Ganeshan.
