Dancer, teacher, choreographer, singer, music composer and educationist, Dr.Ambika Kameshwar, Ph.D.,PDF is a danseuse & vocalist of international acclaim. She has presented dance and music concerts all over the world, recorded music for Sangeetha, the wellknown recording company and has composed music for & choreographed several solo dance pieces and dance-dramas on various themes.

She is a Ph.D. in Natyabhinaya (Indian Theatre) which covers in its scope, dance, music & drama in their experiential & performance aspects. Her Post Doctorate Fellowship is on the application of Theatre Arts as a Holistic tool of Development with special emphasis on Children & People with disabilities.

"Dr.Ambika is fortunate and blessed to have imbibed and experienced the richness of spirituality, the joy and strength of which she expresses continually in all spheres of life"

Dr.Ambika's skills have found fruition as a repertoire Artiste of R.M.C.L., Bangalore and as the Founder - Director of Rasa, Chennai.

Theatre for Holistic Development

What makes Dr.Ambika Kameshwar unique is that she is the pioneer of Theatre for Holistic Development. As the Director of Rasa (Ramana Sunritya Aalaya Trust), Dr.Ambika Kameshwar formulated this unique methodology and has been pioneering the teaching, and use of Theatre for Holistic development which involves Dance, Music & Indian Theatre as a medium of self expression.

She has specialised in reaching out, with the above methodolgy to children with physical, mental and socio economic handicaps.She has been applying it to children with special needs since 1983 and started the organization RASA (Ramana Sunritya Aalaya ) in 1989 to be able to reach out to many more children with disabilities. She has had the opportunity to work with several giants in the field of Dance movement therapy like Ms.Diana cooper - Movement Educator, London school of Speech and Drama - UK and Ms Barbara cortez Greig, Dance Therapist.

Over the years, she evolved a comprehensive system of applying Theatre arts for the holistic development of individuals with "normal" & "special needs" based on her direct experience with children & people with developmental delays & disabilities & her expertise as a dancer/choreographer, vocalist and music composer.

Her research work in the field has been documented as a booklet "My thoughts on Movement Theraphy", her Ph.D in "Natyabhinaya" - Indian Theatre, and her post doctoral thesis presented as a fellowship for the Govt. Of India on " The use of theatre arts as a holistic developmental tool".

She is now leading a team of dedicated people towards giving children with special needs an opportunity to achieve their maximum potential through this codified methodology applying the different aspects of theatre - music, dance, drama, arts & crafts, mime and story telling as holistic developmental tools. The methodology which she calls THD - Theatre for Holistic Development.

She has been the guide for several research scholars in the field of Dance, Music and Theatre with special emphasis on children with special needs, and has spearheaded intensive project work in this new methodology.

She conducts workshops & gives lecture demonstrations & lectures on the innovative methodology, in order to reachout to many more.

Dancer, Choreographer

Dr.Ambika Kameshwar, has had intensive training in Bharathanatyam, Kuchipudi and creative dance under Guru Kumari Meenakshi (from Bangalore) & Dr.Narendra Sharma and several other Dancers and Choreographers in New Delhi. She started giving public performances at the age of seven, and is now recogonized as a leading exponent of Indian Classical Dance.

A danseuse of international acclaim, Dr.Ambika Kameshwar has traveled widely and has given concerts all over the world. The countries where she has performed include - Holland, Switzerland, UK, USA, Canada, South-East Asia, Mauritius etc. She specializes in choreographing & presenting dance drama as various themes. Her lucid explanations of different nuances in dance makes for wonderful lecture demonstration on various topics related to dance.

Rasa - The Arts Centre is the dance school she has been running for the past 20 years.Under her training and guidance there are a number of students blossoming into sprightly young dancers in Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi. She has choreographed and presented several special dance numbers and more than 20 solo and group dance dramas on various themes.

Dr.Ambika Kameshwar has been awarded her doctorate for her thesis on "Natyabhinaya" from the University of Madras.

Musician

As a musician, Dr.Ambika Kameshwar started learning music from the age of five, under the tutelage of her mother Smt.Sulochana Natarajan, and developed in to a talented musician and singer. She had the opportunity of learning for short spells under Dr.S.Ramanathan and Smt. Rukmani Rajagopalan. For eight years, she received advanced training in music from 'Sangeetha Kalanidhi' Smt.D.K. Pattammal.

Endowed with a melodious voice, Dr. Ambika Kameshwar has many years of experience in singing for audio recordings, She has had the opportunity of working under several great music directors including Rajeswara Rao, S.V. Venkatraman, Ilayaraja, Vijay Bhaskar, L.Krishnan, V.S. Narasimhan, Rajkumar Bharati, H.K. Narayana, Siddharta, S.Vijai Shankar and others singing devotional and light classical numbers. As a music composer she has composed music for several devotional music albums. She has also composed music for albums of popular children's songs and for more than 15 full length dance drama presentations on different devotional and moral themes.

In her music, one can expect classical tradition combined with melody and in-depth feeling (Bhava).

She is an experienced concert singer, having had several years of experience of singing solo concerts-both devotional and karnatic classical. As a core singer of the 'Ramananjali' troupe she has sung in over a hundred audio cassettes and has performed in several countries including USA, UK, Switzerland, Holland, Singapore, Malaysia, Mauritius and Sri Lanka. She also has made several solo audio cassettes (Produced By 'Sangeetha", Chennai) to her credit.

The richness of her experience she has gained is well seen in her lecture demonstration on various topics related to Music.

Recognition

Several awards have been bestowed upon her in recogonition of her unique contribution to the field of Dance, Music & Indian Theatre.

Dr.Ambika Kameshwar - A Ph.D from the Madras University has been the recipient of several awards including several citations from the Lioness Clubs and the Narada Gana Sabha Trust among others, for her excellence in, and contribution to the field of dance and dance movement therapy. She has been given the award for the best lecture demonstration during the Natya Kala Conference conducted by the Krishna Gana Sabha in December 1997.In March 1998, on the occasion of International Women's Day and celebration of the golden jubilee of India's independence, Dr.Ambika Kameshwar was awarded the Stree Ratna for her outstanding and constructive contribution to the field of social service by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and K.Subrahmanyam Memorial Trust.

She is also the recipient of several other awards including Bharatha Kala Ratna, Perumaikkuriya Penmani, The Pancharatna Award, The Kalavedi Award, and the title of Sevakala Bharathi. She has received The Vocational Excellence Award from the Rotary Club of Madras Metro and For the Sake of Honour Award which is the highest award of the Rotary, from the Rotary Club of Meenambakkam. She has also received the following awards Kumararaja AM Muthiah Chetti Memorial Award, Samskara Ratna from Bharat Vikas Parishad & Bharathi Puraskar by Bharathi Yuva Kendra, Madurai.

She has been honoured with the Kalaimamani Award for the year 2004 by the Tamil Nadu State Government.