Our Gurus
Acharya
Smt. Suganda Sreenath
Smt. Suganda Sreenath has been involved with Bharatanatyam from an early age, drawing inspiration from her older sister. Smt. Suganda Sreenath started teaching under the guidance of her sister and was the first principal teacher of this school since 1983, while still in her teens. From that small yet significant beginning, Smt. Suganda Sreenath went on to establish her own school, Jayendra Kalakendra, in 1989, which has now grown to have four centers in the Bay Area with several students groomed into fine dancers over the years. She continued to enhance her choreographic skills under the tutelage of Padma Bhushan awardees Smt. Shanta and Sri V.P. Dhananjayan even after she established her own school. Smt. Suganda Sreenath is the recipient of the “Acharya Devo Bhava Award” for her Special Contribution to Bharatanatyam in the Bay Area and “Naatya Sevaka” from Bharata Kalanjali, Chennai, for Obtaining Excellence in her profession as an Artiste and Guru. She was recently awarded “Outstanding Contributor to the Arts” by Bay Area Tamil Sangam.
Guru
Smt. Shreya Iyer
Shreya Iyer Parker is the daughter and disciple of Smt. Suganda Sreenath at Jayendra Kalakendra. Shreya has been learning Bharatanatyam since the age of four under her mother and continues to train with the Dhananjayans and Smt. Divya Shiva Sundar. After completing her Arangetram in 2007, she attended the University of San Diego for her undergraduate degrees in Marketing and Finance. Since graduating, she has taken up classical dance as her profession and is a teacher and lead dancer at Jayendra Kalakendra. Shreya has performed in lead roles for several Jayendra Kalakendra productions and has also presented her own solo performance, Samarpanam. Shreya performs regularly in India during the Margazhi Season, receiving much acclaim for her talent. In 2018, she received the “Natya Ratna” award from the Trinity Arts Festival of India and “The Guru T. Balasaraswati Endowment Prize” from Krishna Gana Sabha. In addition to regularly performing at various events in the USA, Shreya teaches Bharatanatyam to many students of Jayendra Kalakendra, contributes through conducting nattuvangam, and choreographs innovative pieces for the school.
