SHRUTI NARAYANAN | CREATIVE DIRECTOR & HEAD INSTRUCTOR
Shruti Narayanan is the Director of Samai Oriental Dance Company and is an internationally-acclaimed performing artist, choreographer, certified Egyptian folklore teacher and instructor from Bengaluru, India. She has been performing and teaching bellydance for over a decade and began her dance journey at the tender age of 4 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. For the first 16 years of her life, Shruti was raised in the Middle East and was exposed to a host of Indian performing arts by her parents, as a means of keeping her connected to her culture and roots in a foreign country. While in Jeddah, Shruti was rigorously trained in Bharatnatyam (Kalakshetra) under her Guru, Pushpa Suresh for over a decade and completed her Arangetram (Graduation and/Or Professional Debut) at the age of 15. It is this structured practice and disciplined outlook from her classes as a Bharatnatyam disciple, that have now seeped into her personal bellydance practices and is central to her ideology of Oriental dance education at her school, Samai Oriental Dance Company, founded in 2019.
Shruti has a keen interest in the socio-political, cultural and historical aspects of Oriental, North African and Middle Eastern dances and spends a great deal of time working on historical reconstructions of dances from the early 1900s. She is also known for her choreographies and dances inspired by the Golden and Transition Eras in Egypt and her dances inspired by Reda technique. She is currently the only certified practitioner for Muwashahat in India and holds an IDTA associate title for Reda technique, certifications in Egyptian folklore, the Drumzy Foundation Programme Level 1 by Hossam and Serena Ramzy and the prestigious Journey Through Egypt certifications, 1 to 3 by Sahra C. Kent.
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Shruti is actively committed to imparting a well-rounded education in bellydance, going beyond the technicalities of the dance style. She has a number of dance productions to her credit. From charting the evolution of Bellydance to representing the dances and music that emerged from the Golden Era, to infusing Bellydance vocabulary with universal themes such as the Tarot and weaving socially-relevant stories of women through the protagonists of the the Indian Epic, Mahabharat with contemporary bellydance vocabulary - she has done it all. Her projects and productions are a reflection of her desire to preserve the essence of the dance form through various mediums, while engaging the audience in the diversity of bellydance and its deep historical legacy. You will find that her body of work is largely informative, socially-relevant and elegantly designed. She has presented performances at various international festivals and platforms across India, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Italy and has taught at prestigious online platforms and events such as Bwitchs International Festival, Kan Zaman Golden Era Music and Dance Festival and has also been the Jury for the first ever, International Raqs Film Festival.
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Apart from being a dancer, Shruti is a classically-trained singer, professional Tarot Reader, a certified Reiki practitioner and holds degrees in Business Management, Arts Management and Egyptology.
MEGHANA B. SURESH | SENIOR INSTRUCTOR & OPERATIONS MANAGER
Like most South Indian girls in the 90s, Meghana forayed into dancing at the age of 4 through Bharatanatyam classes and has since then ventured into other forms such as Contemporary and Bollywood styles of dance. However, she found her true calling with Bellydance in 2010 with Payal’s Dance Academy and has since dedicatedly pursued this beautiful artform that is steeped in culture and history. She was also a senior instructor and member of the professional dance troupe - Isadora’s Muse under the mentorship of Payal Gupta until 2019.
Meghana has been trained in various styles under Bellydance such as Vintage/Golden era, Classic Oriental/Raqs Sharqi, and the Reda Style/Repertoire.
With a teaching experience of 5 years under her belt, Meghana is currently the Operations Manager and Senior Instructor at Samai Oriental Dance Company and will train aspiring ‘Foundation Level’ students. A staunch believer in having a research-based approach to understanding the mostly misunderstood dance form that is Raqs Sharqi, Meghana also loves working with props such as Fan Veils (one of her specialties), Veils, Sword, and incorporating movements from varied dance repertoire into her choreographies.
Recently, her dance film ‘Chrysalis’ was also one of the top 5 nominees under the ‘Best Fusion’ and ‘Best Artistic Production’ at the 1st International Raqs Film Festival organized by the iconic dancer Kamala Almanazar and Dance Garden LA, U.S.A in June 2021.
When she is not dancing, Meghana is either working as a content writer for a Finance Company, painting, reading, watching the latest K-drama on Netflix, or dreaming about dumplings.
UPASANA SHENOI | BELLYDANCE INSTRUCTOR
Upasana has been in the field of bellydance for 9 years now. She started her journey of bellydancing with Payal Gupta and is currently with Samai Oriental Dance Company (Shruti Narayanan) over the last few years. Apart from learning the basics and techniques from the best, her love for Bollywood brought out her interest in fusion. Her passion for dancing has always pushed her to explore dance forms other than bellydancing. She is also a certified Zumba instructor and learns and performs Bachata with Motley Dance Company.
She strongly believes that dance makes life a lot better and strives to put across the right information related to bellydance to try and scrap off the myths surrounding it. She lives by the rule that learning is a constant but imparting the knowledge that is learnt also plays an equally important role.
RAJASHREE RAJENDRAN | BELLYDANCE INSTRUCTOR
If Rajashree had to pick out one thing that has been the most influential in her life, it would be dance. It all started when she was 8 years old and enrolled in a Bharatnatyam class, which served as a gateway to a world that has never ceased to amaze her. Since then, she has indulged in various styles, including Bollywood, fusion, and kuthu dance. About five years ago, she delved into belly dance, and then never looked back.
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SODC, with its in-depth curriculum and vast array of courses, played a pivotal role in helping her find what she loved with this art form. The different styles, such as Raqs Sharqi, Golden Era, Traditional Baladi, and Reda technique, all struck the right chords, and she fell in love with bellydance. These courses helped shape her interests and kept her intrigued to learn and experience more of the niche forms and styles taught at SODC. Now, Rajashree is a full-time SODC performer and is also stepping into the coveted role of instructor with the academy.
ANJUM GOEL | BELLYDANCE INSTRUCTOR
Anjum is a bellydance artiste and senior performer at SODC. She has been training in this beautiful art form for 6+ years. She was first drawn to the beauty and grace of this dance form, but soon discovered that bellydance is much more than what we see today on screens. She has a strong passion for the rich cultural heritage and history connected to it which has broadened her understanding and appreciation towards the art form. Anjum strongly believes that the dance form has taught her to appreciate and know her body like never before and she has gained a newfound confidence. Being associated with SODC and Shruti since the school's inception, Anjum's journey from student to instructor has been a commendable one! Anjum has studied and performed a variety of Egyptian bellydance styles ranging from folklore, to the styles that emerged from the Golden era, traditional raqs sharqi and other creative variations of bellydance. She has also been a part of numerous productions, directed by Shruti Narayanan.
