Home / The Gurus
The two who
teach here.
A danseuse and a vocalist, married to each other and to the same tradition. Between them, Nadavidyalaya holds both halves of Indian classical performance under one roof.
Bharatanatyam · Founder & Artistic Director
Vidushi
Mithra Naveen
An artiste of distinction in the royal city of Mysuru, forever dedicated to the pursuit of excellence as teacher, performer and choreographer. Mithra is an indebted disciple of Natyacharya K. Muralidhara Rao and Dr. Kripa Phadke.
She holds a Master's degree in English and a Master's degree in Bharatanatyam, and the Vidwat degree in dance. She is a graded artiste of Doordarshan, and has served as a bona fide Resource Person for the national training project organised by RIEM, Mysuru.
She has paneled workshops, seminars and training programmes in Bharatanatyam, and has performed on innumerable prestigious platforms. In an earlier chapter, she was an N.C.C. cadet of the naval wing.
Dr. Kripa Phadke
M.A. Bharatanatyam
Vidwat in dance
Doordarshan
N.C.C. naval wing cadet
Conceptualised choreography
Fifteen works, and the arguments behind them
Mithra is a pioneer in conceiving and choreographing theme-based dance ensembles — works commissioned for international conferences on women's empowerment, climate change, sustainable development and Ayurveda, alongside a body of repertoire drawn from the puranas, the vachanas and Haridasa literature.
- Sri Krishna Vilaasa
- Purandhara Daasaamrutha
- Geetamrutha Saara
- PunyakotiA folk work
- Shiva Sharane MahadeviVachana saahitya
- Sapta Taandava
- Dharma Vijayam
- Celebration of GraceOn women's empowerment
- Vasudaiva KutumbakamOn climate change
- Sustainable Development
- Adi Poojya
- Celebration of Connectivity100 years of Rotary in India
- Sanatana Sath KriyaAyurveda international conference
- Sarvam Raamamayam
- Pancha Bhoota
Titles conferred
Honours
Her disciples are a legion. Students under her guidance have been decorated with distinctions of Vidwath, identified for scholarships and selected as graded artists of Doordarshan; scores have accomplished their rangapravesham and now carry the art forward as teachers and performers in their own right.
- International Aryabhata Award
- Hoysala Award
- Kalpashree
- Sarvashree
- Natya Saraswathi
- Natya Kala Sindhu
- Shikshaka Seva Ratna
- Kala Shreshta
- Sri Haridaasa Nritya Sangeetha Shironmani
- Adarsha Seva Pratibha Ratna
- Kala Sadhana Samman
- Natya Shironmani
Carnatic Vocal · Founder & Artistic Director
Vidwan
M. S. Naveen
A scrupulous artiste who has imbibed the beauty of Carnatic classical vocal music. Straightforward and highly disciplined, Naveen holds four Master's degrees — in Kannada, Hindi, Music and Education — and is an accomplished lawyer.
He began his training under his father and guru, Vid. Andagar Srinivas, and continued under Guru Dr. R. N. Srilatha and Guru Vid. Pushpa Srinivasan. He holds the Vidwath in Carnatic classical vocal and is a graded artist of All India Radio — also a keyboard player, music director and composer, and a sought-after vocalist for Bharatanatyam.
He has composed for and given voice to more than twenty dance dramas and over thirty arangetrams of Nadavidyalaya alone, besides accompanying many other exponent dancers.
Dr. R. N. Srilatha
Vid. Pushpa Srinivasan
M.A. Music · M.Ed.
Law
Graded artist, All India Radio
Keyboard player
Direction & composition
Sangeetha Roopakas
Theme-based vocal concerts woven together with narration — a form Naveen has conceptualised and directed for the academy's stage.
- Vachana Vaibhava
- Purandhara Daasaamrutha
- Bhaktha Kanaka
Beyond the academy
Service, jury and the parade ground
Appointed a resource person by the KSEEB to train 900 physical education teachers in the National Anthem, regional songs and patriotic songs. He has also served on the jury of several well-known competitions and reality shows.
As a Senior Under Officer in the N.C.C. army wing he participated in fourteen camps and activities: the 1997 National Sports Camp and Independence Day national camp, and the 1998 Republic Day Parade in Delhi — where he received a gold medal from the Delhi General in Carnatic classical vocal, across sixteen states. For the highest points conferred, he was selected by the then Governor, Khurshed Alam Khan, as a senate member of the University of Mysuru in 1998.
Titles conferred
Honours
His students are privileged with scholarships and certificates of merit in music examinations, and emerge as confident singers. His desire to spread classical music through teaching, performing, directing, composing and conducting workshops is widely appreciated.
- International Aryabhata Award, 2025
- Hoysala Award
- Aadarsha Prathibha Ratna
- Haridaasa Nritya Sangeetha Shironmani
Together
The reason both arts are taught here
A Bharatanatyam performance is held up by its music. A Carnatic concert is shaped by the same tala and the same rasa a dancer works in. Teaching them in the same house is not a convenience — it is how the two disciplines were always meant to be learnt.
Apart from the fine arts, the gurus give their disciples the philosophical and ethical values of life, making them complete human beings of culture and tradition. That sentence is from the academy's own charter, and it is the part they are most serious about.
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Learn from them.
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