Amey Maslekar
Act: Apna Time Aayega, Satarangi, Jai Jai Shiv Shankar in Bollywood Through The Decades
Ever since his childhood, dancing has been Amey's hobby. Passionate about dance, he joined Boston Bollywood in Season 1 where he explored different dance styles such as Urban Hip-Hop, Bollywood, Contemporary, Folk, Lyrical, etc. under various talented and professional choreographers. He has been choreographing for Boston Bollywood since Season 6 and has choreographed multiple pieces and workshops comprising various styles inspired from his training.
Apeksha Shelke
Act: First Class
Apeksha developed a passion for dancing in her kindergarten days. Since then, she has been a part of various dances, and dance competitions. She was the Cultural Head of Indian Student Association at her University, where she led teams and choreographed. She joined Boston Bollywood in Season 3, and was a part of the BBX team in South Asian Showdown-2018, where BBX was a Runner-up. This is her fifth season with Boston Bollywood as a dancer, and first season as a choreographer! It has been an exciting journey for her, and she is thrilled for her piece tonight!
Bhanu Guru
Act: Aira Gaira
Bhanu is a passionate dancer, choreographer and instructor. She has been dancing with Boston Bollywood for the past five seasons. Bhanu is a bharatanatyam disciple of Guru Smt. Sridevi Ajai Thirumalai. She has choreographed and performed for many fundraisers including the Sankara Foundation and Manidha Neyam Trust and danced for social events like Tamil Makkal Mandram and New England of Tamil Sangam. She enjoys teaching popular Bollywood dance numbers to children in Natick for special occasions.
Apart from dance, Bhanu is interested in doing Karaoke of Illayaraja and A.R. Rehman Songs and loves knitting.
Harshad Sathe
Act: First Class
Growing up, Harshad was a complete non-dancer. He realized he enjoys dancing during his college years, when he fortuitously auditioned for a dance troupe, and there has been no turning back since. He successfully led his undergraduate dance team that went on to win at various state-level competitions. Harshad joined Boston Bollywood to pursue his passion in dancing further, and to explore new styles. Striding towards his 6th consecutive season with us, he is thrilled to showcase his first choreography with Boston Bollywood.
Jaikishan
Acts: Boston Bollywood's Adaptation of Om Shanti Om, iSmartTV & Main Deewana Tera
Jai has been an avid dancer & choreographer for the past 13 years. He is proficient in various styles of dancing such as Hip Hop &Bollywood and considers Allu Arjun as his dancing idol. During his time in India, Jai participated in several dance competitions as part of his professional dance team. Fun fact about Jai - His team participated and won second place in a dance reality show.
He has been part of Boston Bollywood since season one and loves that he is able to choreograph and dance with the same freshness and enthusiasm he had when he started. He was the co-captain for Boston Bollywood’s competitive team, Boston Bollywood Xtreme, which won at South Asian Showdown, New England's biggest Bollywood Fusion competition. He is a fun loving person and truly believes in teamwork. He is a story teller and dreams to make it big in the movie industry !
Krithi Nathan
Act: Ang Laga De
Krithi is a passionate dancer who started her dance journey with Bharatanatyam since the age of 4 while picking up Bollywood dancing in her free time. A self-proclaimed Bollywood music fan, she enjoys exploring dance and challenging herself in different styles, from Bhangra to Semi- Classical to Folk to Contemporary to everything in between!
She is a dance instructor at the Academy of Creative Arts and enjoys spreading the love of dance to others.
This is Krithi’s 5th season for Boston Bollywood and she’s excited to be choreographing this season! She can’t wait to be back onstage, her 2nd home!
Meera Seshadri
Acts: Satarangi & San Sanana
Meera is classically trained in Bharathanatyam and Kathak, and has a minor in lyrical dance and performance art. Her international career as a professional choreographer, dancer, and instructor has taken her from the Bay Area's Mona Khan Company to Chennai-based record label Earthsync, La Academia Nicaraguense de la Danza in Managua, Nicaragua, Berklee College of Music's Indian Ensemble, and our personal favorite - Boston Bollywood! Her choreography is emotional, gripping, and fluid, inspired by the stories our hearts yearn to tell.
Neha Kumar
Act: Ab Tohe in Ghar More Pardesia
Neha has been dancing since she was seven, and is formally trained in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Modern, and Bharatanatyam. She has taught Bollywood and Classical Fusion with Arya Dance Academy, and performed throughout the Greater Boston area. In college, she was struck by Bhangra fever, and competed across the country as a Tufts Bhangra captain, as well as a dancer on MIT Bhangra and Pariyan INKorporated (an all-female professional team). While at Tufts, she minored in Dance, and co-founded an Indian Classical Dance team there. Since then, Neha has been choreographing and dancing with Boston Bollywood. This is her sixth season with this incredible group, and she’s looking forward to more!
Pooja Ravi
Act: Student of the Year
Pooja Ravi is a professional dancer and she has been performing on stage for 12+ years. She is proficient in various styles of dance such as Hip Hop, Bollywood, and her zeal to learn new styles has helped bring out her passion for dance. She has been a dancer in all 8 seasons of Boston Bollywood and a choreographer for the last 4 seasons. She has been a part of BBX (Boston Bollywood’s competitive team) that won the trophy at South Asian Showdown 2017 and 2018.
She is the perfect example of a person with a Can Do attitude as she is always trying her best to balance her professional/personal and dancing career despite a lot of challenges. She is an I.T Architect by profession.
Shashank Buch
Acts: iSmartTV & Student of the Year
Shashank discovered his love for dance in middle school through multiple stage performances. Always an admirer of the performing arts, he has continued pursuing his passion with Boston Bollywood. Shashank has choreographed multiple routines at Boston Bollywood for showcases and workshops with various styles including Bollyfolk, Hip hop and Masala Bollywood.
Saranya Akumalla
Act: Kajraare in Aira Gaira
Saranya Akumalla is a Bioinformatics Analyst who works with Personalized Medicine for Cancer Patients. She was a member of Shakti- the Bharatanatyam team at Johns Hopkins University that has performed and won at competitions such as Dhirana 2017. She passed her Junior Level Bharatanatyam Exam conducted by Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board with Distinction. She has choreographed and performed for multiple cultural events and dignitaries including the Former CM of Karnataka- HD Kumaraswamy. She has represented her School at performances and competitions across India, USA and Europe. Saranya likes to work with Semi-classical and Bollywood styles and this is her Second Season choreographing with Boston Bollywood. She loves the platform Boston Bollywood provides to both perform and grow as a dancer.
Smita Netra
Act: Ang Laga De
Smita Netra is a trained dancer in Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary and Bollywood. She was a part of Shiamak Davar International for 17 years which involved thorough and professional training in these dance forms.
In addition to training, she has taught several contemporary and heels workshops and runs her own classes in Boston. She’s been part of Boston Bollywood since Season One and is a veteran choreographer and dancer.
Smita’s dance career has taken her to corporate and award shows globally!
Swati Tiwari
Acts: Ghar More Pardesia, Boston Bollywood's Adaptation of Om Shanti Om, San Sanana, Bollywood Through The Decades, Finale
Swati Tiwari, founder and artistic director of Boston Bollywood LLC, has been trained in Bharatnatyam and Rajasthani Folk dance. She led Nazar Bollywood dance troupe from fall of 2011 to Fall of 2015 through three successful annual showcases. She has choreographed Bollywood numbers for five seasons of Somerville-based OnStage Dance Company and has taught numerous Bollywood workshops around the Greater Boston Area. She served as a judge on South Asian Showdown, 2016 -- New England’s biggest Bollywood Dance Competition. She served as team co-captain for Boston Bollywood Xtreme that won South Asian Showdown 2017 and placed third at the 2018 competition.
Having choreographed 38 separate acts in 8 seasons of Boston Bollywood, Swati has also been a guest choreographer for the World of Dance Ensemble production at Endicott College where she was also a guest teacher this Fall talking about significance of Indian Classical Dance Styles.
