Kiruthika Rathanaswami (she/her)

Associate Artist

Kiruthika Rathanaswami is a Vancouver based bharata natyam dance artist and instructor. For the past 26 years, she has been under the mentorship and guidance of Jai Govinda, Artistic Director of Mandala Arts and Culture Society in Vancouver. She completed her bharata natyam arangetram (graduation) at the Jai Govinda Dance Academy in 2004 and since then has been a part of many of Mandala's professional productions and presentations as a soloist, and ensemble. Kiruthika has performed in Canada and the United States at notable festivals such as Canada Dance Festival, Gait to the Spirit Festival, Horizon Series, Feats Festival, HH11 Dance Festival, Nextfest, Baltimore Dance Invitational, New Works Dance All Sorts, Discover Dance Noon Series, Solo: A Festival of Dance and Expanse Festival to many a few. In 2010, she received the Arts Fellowship from the Shastri Indo- Canadian Institute and studied with Gurus B. Bhanumati and Sheela Chandrashekar in Bangalore, India. She was the lead dancer in the documentary film "The Great Night of Shiva" (2011) which was broadcast nationally on Vision TV, Canada. Kiruthika is the recipient of the 2012 City of Vancouver "The Mayor's Arts Award" for emerging artist in Dance and the 2016 Dancing Damsel Women Achiever Award for the Performing Arts.

She continues to work with choreographer Jai on new repertoire and with Nova Dance.

Kiruthika has received support from Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, Edmonton Arts Council, Mandala Arts & Culture Society and Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre.

Birthplace: Pondicherry, India Birthplace: Pondicherry, India

Training: Jai Govinda Dance Academy (Vancouver, BC), Nrityakalamandiram - B. Bhanumati and Sheela Chandrashekar (Bangalore, India)

For Nova Dance: Svāhā! ; Vancouver 2023 Body-Choir Co-ordinator, Canada Summer Jobs Manager

“WE WILL REMEMBER THIS. WE DO REMEMBER JOY.... SENDING SVĀHĀ INTO THE FUTURE” - I remember all the rehearsals via Zoom and the uncertain state we were all in at the start of the pandemic. We did not know what was going on in the world, where we were going, but dance brought us together. We could rehearse, share, talk and get to know each other on a personal level that I don’t think would have ever happened otherwise. Looking back, everything we did in 2020-2021 lead us to what Svāhā! is today and it continues to change. I got to know and connect with dancers in a very vulnerable space. So much change happened in those years for so many of us and it all added to Svāhā!.