Smt. Shanthi Ashok has had the privilege of learning under the guidance of Guru S. Vasantha and Guru S. Subalakshmi of Kalanjali school of Arts in Bombay, India. The Gurus of Kalanjali are the disciples of Guru Pandanallur Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai. They are recipients of many awards including the titles of “Nritya Shivali” in 2008 and “Nritya Shiromani” in 2009 conferred by the Government of Tamil Nadu.

Smt. Shanthi Ashok has enriched her dance vocabulary and extended the frontier of dance tradition to evolve her own distinct style. Nrityanjali Dance Company, formed by Smt. Shanthi Ashok, is a distinguished member of the Virginia Dance Coalition. Smt. Shanthi Ashok has also served as the Board of Director for Bharatanatyam for Indian Dance Educators Association (IDEA) from 2015 to 2017. The company was wildly successful in organizing charity fundraising events in 2014 and 2015. This is a way for the company and its students to give back to the community through the medium of dance. In the past few years, Nrityanjali Dance Company has also staged several productions such as Adi Shankaracharya’s Shanmatham, Myriad of Folklore, Ekaanki and Vyaktitva.

Gowri has been dancing since the age of 5. Sreedevi Vengalil was Gowri’s first Bharatanatyam guru. At age 6, Gowri started with Guru Smt. Shanthi Ashok. By God’s grace and her gurus’ blessings, Gowri has done several group and solo performances in the DC area on stages such as the Durga temple, Murugan temple, Sri Siva Vishnu temple, Sri Venkateswara Lotus temple, Shirdi Sai Mandir, and Chinmaya Somnath. She has also performed for the Heritage India Festival, World Cultural Festival and for Smt. Shanthi Ashok’s Myriad of Folklore. Gowri also had the privilege of learning from renowned artists like Sri. N. Srikanth and Smt. Padmakshi Ramaswamy.

Along with Bharatnatyam, Gowri is also a classically trained ballerina and trains at the Mia Saunders School of Ballet. She has appeared in roles such as Clara, the Snow Queen and the Sugarplum Fairy in MSB’s rendition of The Nutcracker.

Gowri has performed other forms of dance like Folk, Bollywood, and lyrical in pursuit of her passion for dance, performing on local stages for various cultural organizations in the DC metro area like Kerala Cultural Society of Metropolitan Washington (KCSMW), Nair Society of Greater Washington (NSGW) and Kerala Association of Greater Washington (KAGW). Gowri is also trained in Indian carnatic classical music.

As a senior at Centreville High School, Gowri is the President of the South Asian Student Association, Secretary of the Speech Club, Executive Board member of the Wildcat Freshman Mentoring program, Tutor Manager of the Wildcat Writing Center, National Honor Society member and a member of the College Partnership Program. Gowri was an active member of the Youth Leadership program at Chinmaya Mission and is a graduate of the Fairfax County Youth Leadership program.

Gowri is excited to be attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the fall to pursue a career in education.

Literal meaning is offering of dance. The student is showcasing and offering her performance to friends and family, gurus and the supreme after completing her formal training and before commencing the next stage of her dance journey.