Natraj School of Dance

Natraj School of Dance is a South Indian classical Dance School based in Lower Hutt established by Mrs. The school specializes in teaching Bharathanatyam, one of the oldest classical dance forms of India in the Pandanallur and Kancheepuram Ellappa style. It is a social enterprise and exists to promote the Indian art and culture in NZ and provides an opportunity for interested people to learn this

art form irrespective of their ethnic background, age or gender. The school has trained over 900 students from various backgrounds and ethnicities in the past 23 years predominantly in Wellington and also in Rotorua with ten students successfully graduating from the school. Graduates of the school are encouraged to continue their advance training in dancing, teaching and choreography. We are proud to say that many of our graduates are currently undergoing teacher training and developing their teaching skills at this very young age. Natraj School of Dance is also well known in the community for creating new and innovative dance pieces to suit the occasion. In addition, the school has choreographed a variety of fusion dance numbers incorporating other dance styles from around the world. Some of which include kapa haka, the Samoan fire dance, Sri Lankan Kandyan dancing, Western Classical Ballet, North Indian dancers and all this has been done without diluting the purity of the Bharatanatyam art form. Prabha’s work and contribution to dance and the ethnic community has been well recognised in NZ through several awards during the past decade such as The Queen Services Medal, QSM, by the NZ government in 2017, Community award by Indian Newslink for her contribution to Tamil community in 2018 and contribution to Dance in 2019, Hutt City Mayoral Civic Honour Awards for Cultural Affairs and Community Group in 2011, Cultural Award from Upper Hutt Multi Ethnic Council for contributions to Art and Culture in 2013. She was also a Finalist for Wellingtonian of the Year Award in 2016 for Education. She is also a Justice of Peace. Her contribution to dance was further endorsed and acknowledged when she was invited as Judge for dance competitions. In June 2018, she was one of the judges for the TV3 Great NZ Dance Masala competition, the first of its kind in NZ on the national television. In 2019, she was also a Judge for the Hutt’s Got Talent competition as part of the Hutt Winter Festival and has been on the judging panel for the annual Hutt City Youth Awards since 2018. Her career as a dance teacher has spanned more than two decades. She has choreographed and directed a number of dance pieces, dance ballets and thematic dance productions, proving to be a successful dance teacher and a choreographer. She has been regularly invited as panel speaker by local and international organisations to share her knowledge and experience in Bharatanatyam. She also gets invited regularly to conduct Bharatanatyam workshops at various events, schools, regional council and community groups to promote and educate the wider community of this ancient this art form. She has contributed to various research studies on leadership and mentoring in ethnic arts and fusion dance. Apart from running her school she is also a management consultant and helps organisations with strategy development and implementation, business planning, workshop facilitation, business growth and stakeholder engagement. She is a coach, mentor, facilitator, assessor for various funding agencies and an independent director.