Samanvita Kasthuri

Samanvita Kasthuri hails from a family of literature, dance, music and yoga. She began to learn Bharatanatyam and Kathak under the guidance of her father, Guru Prasanna Kasthuri. She also began to learn Carnatic music under her mother, Guru Seema Kasthuri. She joined Soorya Performing Arts along with students her age, immediately showing a greater interest than her peers. As a young child, she was included in dance productions such as “Gokula Nirgamana” (a musical describing the life of a deity named Krishna), “Rainbow 2” (a collection of pieces inspired by poets such as William Shakespeare, Rabindranath Tagore, and Maya Angelou), and “Mruchakatika” (a social play about deceit, love and politics). ​Samanvita had the opportunity to learn from distinguished artists such as Dr. Lalitha Srinivasan (Bharathanatyam), Shivananda Hegde (Yakshagana), Ramesh Ramalingappa (Mrudangam) and Shila Mehta (Kathak). She is continuing her practice under the guidance of Dr. Lalitha Srinivasan in Bangalore, India.

​In 2016 and 2017 (when she was 14 and 15), Samanvita completed her Kathak and Bharatanatyam arangetrams. An arangetram is a solo program performed by a student using live music. This performance usually lasts around four hours, including vigorous dancing, intricate story-telling, rhythmic footwork, and engaging dance dramas.

​Samanvita has competed in the Fox Teen Talent Competition and performed on the Fabulous Fox Theater (which has hosted award-winning plays such as “Hamilton”) thrice in high school. The Fox Teen Talent Competition is a regional competition in St. Louis featuring more than 100 teen artists competing for a slot. She won third place in her first year competing in 2017 as a freshman in high school with a Kathak composition choreographed by Guru Prasanna Kasthuri. She then qualified for the finals in 2018 with a group from Soorya Performing Arts. Finally, in her last year competing in 2019, she won second place for a self-choreographed and composed piece called ‘Equal’. Samanvita composed and choreographed this piece at the age of 16, choosing a theme that focused on the stigma against survivors of violence, especially women who suffer a traumatic experience and struggle to seek help. "Equal" talks about the gendered violence many women face and uses Bharatanatyam and contemporary to narrate a story in which a woman gains the strength to break down the stigma and talk about her assault. Samanvita won numerous awards over these years, including a $4,000 scholarship, a $6,000 scholarship, and additional awards such as the “I” Award and the “Aspiring Artist Award”.

Through Saint Louis University's dance minor program, Samanvita expanded her training in Western dance styles and performed in local venues in St. Louis. In April of 2022, Samanvita was commissioned by Saint Louis University to create a piece for the Literary Arts Award, in which the esteemed author Arundhati Roy was honored for her literary achievements. Her literature uses many allusions to the environment and the exploitation of nature at man's hands, so Samanvita decided to use this as the focus of her piece “Krtghna: Ungrateful”. “Krtghna” focuses on environmental issues by creating a story in which Mother Earth raises a child, nurturing it and caring for it. However, this child grows selfish, and attempts to take control of the five elements, ignoring the warnings and pleas from his mother. Left with no choice, Mother Earth ends up burning the world out of existence. The piece featured excerpts from Roy’s books and had Bharatanatyam, Kathak, and contemporary elements. “Krtghna” was performed on April 28th, 2022, at Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis. Apart from her activities as a dance minor, Samanvita is the choreography captain of Saint Louis University's Bollywood Fusion team, SLU Shakti. Shakti is a nationally competing team that has won numerous awards for its dancing. It is set to perform at the national-level competition, Legends. Most recently, she was awarded "Best Dancer" at Desi Dance Network's National Bollywood Fusion collegiate dance competition, which hosted a competition between the top 8 teams in the nation.

Samanvita has been awarded numerous opportunities and commissions through her undergraduate career, such as performing at the Literary Arts Award Ceremony, being awarded the Summer Award from Saint Louis University's Fine and Performing Arts Department, dancing as a part of Indian Raga's Fellowship Program in September of 2021, and more. Furthermore, she has performed on prestigious venues such as the Delhi International Festival, American Kannada Kootagal Aagara (AKKA), Federation of Tamil of North America (FeTNA), Telugu Association of North America (TANA), Paint­ed Bride Arts Center in Philadelphia, Shanthala Dance Festi­val, and Nadam Dance Festivals in India. Apart from these, she has performed in Webster Arts Fair, The Muny, Maryland Heights World Festival, and Sheldon Concert Hall.

Samanvita is now a Performing and Teaching Artist at Pack Dance Company, where she teaches drop-in Contemporary Fusion classes that combine elements of Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Contemporary, and Hip-Hop through short combinations to the greater St. Louis region. Post graduation, Samanvita has had the opportunity to perform at WaxWorks Showcase in Williamsburg, New York; Saint Louis Contemporary Dance Festival; Space Station Dance Residency, and has been featured in a music video by singer Hanna Canhasi in her single, "Say It".