Nina Rajarani - Artistic Director, Choreographer and Dancer

Nina Rajarani carried out her Bharatanatyam training under Prakash Yadagudde at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's London branch, during which time she also had additional training with Chitra Visweswaran of Chennai, India, during her visits to London. Nina was awarded Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's Diploma in Bharatanatyam in 1986, and in 1987 she staged her Arangetram under her guru Prakash Yadagudde. Since 1988 Nina has received training regularly in Chennai under Shanta and VP Dhananjayan. In 1989, the Arts Council of England in conjunction with ADiTi (the national organisation for South Asian Dance in the UK) awarded Nina a scholarship to undergo an intensive training period with the Dhananjayans in Chennai. Nina's dance style today is unique in its assimilation of the best qualities from each of the different traditions followed by the gurus with whom she has trained. Nina has also received Karnatic music vocal training under Sivasakti Sivanesan at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's London branch, and under Karpagam Balasubramanian in Chennai.

As a performer, Nina has toured extensively within the UK, in several other European countries, in India, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.

In September 2006, Nina won the Place Prize, Europe's largest choreographic competition sponsored by Bloomberg. Out of 204 entries by choreographers, Nina was one of the chosen twenty commissioned to create a new dance piece. Her piece QUICK! won the competition with raving comments from the judges and the press. The winning piece was incorporated in Nina's work Quiet, Please! that toured nationally and internationally from February 2007. QUICK! toured again in Spring 2008 as part of the triple bill of Play Ball.

Nina has earned herself an admirable reputation as a teacher and has to her credit, a thriving school of dance based at the Harrow Arts Centre in Middlesex, since 1991. Her students pride themselves upon the high standard of dancing they aim to achieve.

In recent years, Nina Rajarani has been closely involved with a committee of dance teachers that has devised a syllabus for Bharatanatyam with graded examinations. These examinations are being conducted by the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) that runs examinations worldwide for various different dance styles including Ballet, Tap and so on. Nina is currently the secretary of the South Asian Dance Faculty of the ISTD and is also a Bharatanatyam examiner for the ISTD.

Nina Rajarani has been awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire) in the Queen's 2009 Birthday Honours, in recognition of her services to South Asian Dance. The award, which recognises many years' work developing and raising the profile of South Asian dance, was announced on 13 June 2009, and will be presented by the Queen at an official ceremony later this year. The Queen's Birthday Honours are awarded each year in June, and pay tribute to outstanding achievement and service across the community.  

Nina Rajarani is currently an Associate Artist of Akademi.