Sharanagathi Mentors

Kumari Lakshmi Krishnan, or Lakshmi Akka as she’s fondly known, graduated from the Temple of Fine Arts (TFA) in Bharatanatyam and Nattuvaangam under the able guidance of Shrimathi Kamakshi Jayaraman. She received the Maha Guru Swami Shivananda award in 1993 for her dedication to the arts. Lakshmi Akka is a business graduate from the National University of Singapore and has been a full-time teacher at the Temple of Fine Arts since 2003. She has performed widely in most of TFA’s stage productions in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and India. She has trained and groomed several students towards their Arangetram, and continues to train and guide them after graduation too.

She is currently involved in choreography and training of dancers in most of TFA stage productions and shows. In March 2021, she released her dance film, TranscenDance, a Bharatanatyam group choreography work tracing the journey of 5 dancers. In September 2022, she was awarded the Naatya Aachaaryamani Award by Apsaras Arts.

Lakshmi Akka trained in Nattuvangam in Coimbatore, under Shrimathi Kamakshi Jayaraman for 5 years. She presented her Nattuvangam Arangetram in 2003, making her the first student of TFA International to have graduated in Nattuvangam. Lakshmi Akka also received advanced training in Nattuvangam from the late Shri Bhaagavatula Seetaraama Sharma of Chennai in 2009. She has accompanied many TFA students internationally for their arangetrams, and has had the blessed opportunity to accompany renowned dancers such as Shri Shankar Kandasamy of Malaysia, Shri Mavin Khoo of London and Shri Amrita Lahiri of India. Over the years, she has also been blessed to work with and learn from TFA directors Kumari Suryakala, Shrimathi Kamakshi Jayaraman, Shri Shankar Kandasamy as well as Shri Mavin Khoo. She continues to find new avenues to explore the art of nattuvangam.

A firm believer that we are always students, Lakshmi Akka continues to seek opportunities to learn and grow.

Dr. C. M. Venkatachalam was introduced to music at a very early age by his parents. He studied under the late Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar and under Kollam Harihara Bhagavatar in Chennai, India. He also learns with his aunt Smt. Bala Narasimhan of Ottawa. He considers the late Sangitha Kalanidhi T. Viswanathan to be his mAnasika guru, from whom he derives inspiration for teaching music. Several music students are trained and guided at Doraiswamy Home of Music, founded by him in 1997 in San Diego and later also in Austin.

Venkatachalam has been active in organizing concerts and also dealing with audio/video arrangements for concerts. He is one of the founding trustees of the Indian Fine Arts Academy of San Diego, CA. He has received the following recognitions:

• “Kala Seva Mani” — Cleveland Aradhana Committee, 1999
• “Sangeetha Seva Rathna” — Indian Fine Arts Academy of San Diego, 2012
• “Dr. Subramanian Ramamurthy Service Award” — VVS Foundation, 2023

He has a Ph.D. in molecular biophysics. He was a faculty member at the University of Michigan and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and worked as a senior scientist at a software company for 23 years developing computer algorithms for designing drugs.