2023.11.01 - FY23 Master/Apprentice Award Recipients

Asha Chandrashekara Adiga (she/her/hers)
Guru Vidushi Asha Adiga is an accomplished Bharatanatyam dancer and Carnatic music performer. She has been in this field for more than 36 years as a student, performer, choreographer, composer, and an educator. Asha represented India on the international stage as a dancer at age of 9 and has given performances all over India, Europe, and the US.

She has visualized, choreographed and directed, many classical dances, folk dances, dance dramas, ballets and composed several pieces of music, some of which are “Shiva Shakthi”, “Rama-Eshawara”, “Sri Guru Sai Leela”, “Sri Sathyanarayana Katha”, Nadham, “Hima Maya” and many more.  She secured the 3rd rank in dance Vidwath higher proficiency exams conducted by Karnataka Higher Education Board, India. Asha has received several awards and accolades to her credit such as Air India "Rank Award”.  She is also an awardee of extraordinary artist green card in the USA. She is also an esteemed member of the international dance council CID – UNESCO.

Asha founded the Acharya Performing Arts Academy Inc in Illinois and she is a creative artistic director in Nupura Geetha Inc., a Nonprofit organization for art and culture. https://www.ashaacharya.org

Khristi Blocton (she/her/hers)
Khristi Blocton has been dancing Bharatanatyam and Indian folk dance for over 15 years and has been a shishya (disciple/student) of Guru Vidushi Asha Adiga since 2011.  She completed her advanced performance (Arangetram) under Guru Vidushi Asha in 2015.  Since that time, she has been performing and assisting at Asha Performing Arts Academy Inc.

Khristi has been in lead roles and participated in many dance dramas and feature performances composed and choreographed by Guru Vidushi Asha such as “Rama-Eshawara”, “Sri Guru Sai Leela”, “Sri Sathyanarayana Katha”, Nadham, and “Hima Maya”.  She has also presented feature performances at SVS Balaji Temple, Aurora, Chicago Travel and Adventure Show, Waubonsee Community College, Natya Festival, St. Louis, Melharmony Festival, Wisconsin, Destination Asia at Morton Arboretum, and Telugu National Conventions (NATS, ATA) to name a few.

Sandip Burman (he/him/his)
Sandip Burman, a native of Durgapur, India, is a disciple of the late distinguished tabla master, Pandit Shyamal Bose of Calcutta. Sandipji’s performances are marked with spontaneous innovation and tonal purity while delivering complex rhythmic patterns (tala) or melody (raga).

Some of his accomplishments include solo performances at the Kennedy Center, First Night Providence (Rhode Island), Ravinia Festival (Chicago), Percussive Arts Society Conference (PASIC) and Nashville Symphony.

While exploring World Music, Jazz, Western Classical and Movie Soundtracks, Sandipji has played on albums such as Facing East, Vishnu, Outbound (GRAMMY award winner for best Jazz album), Live at the Quick DVD (GRAMMY Award winner for Best Live Performance) and Global Fusion from Warner Brothers. Always in search of new challenges, Sandipji wrote his first Western Classical piece for wind ensemble & string quartet with Gary Hill and Jonathan Moser, as well as contributed to Danny Elfman’s soundtrack of Tim Burton’s film, Mars Attacks.

“Support from the Illinois Art Council is very meaningful to me. Student/teacher relationships are made stronger by grant awards such as this Master/Apprentice Program.”

Tyler Kraiss (he/him/his)
Tyler Kraiss has been a student of Pandit Sandip Burman for 4 1/2 years learning Indian classical vocals and harmonium. “This music has inspired me to become more of a conscious human being because of the depth of the subject matter. This grant award will enable me to learn much more deeply and share what I learn through performances and teaching as I progress.”

When Tyler is not playing music, he can be found reading about spiritual, esoteric teachings, and yogic practices. Making art with watercolor and other mediums like acrylic and colored pencil are other expressions that Tyler uses to strengthen his artistic voice. When he is not playing music, making art, or writing poetry, Tyler expresses his creative energy through his full-time career as a tattoo artist which allows him to hold deep conversations with clients about life and therapeutic matters. “I love the work that I do, and carry that love into musical expression.”

Kioto Aoki (she/her/hers)
Kioto is an artist, educator and musician descending from an okiya (geisha house) performing arts family in Tokyo –called Toyoakimoto– with roots dating back to the Edo period. She is the fifth generation of the shamisen performing house, having just received her Toyoaki name: Toyoaki Chitose. Studying under her father Tatsu Aoki who was born in Tokyo, Kioto is carrying on the artistic family lineage in Chicago playing taiko, shamisen and tsuzumi in both traditional and contemporary musical contexts. 

Her musical practice maintains a balance of retaining the artistic and aesthetic integrity of traditional Japanese music with a musical flexibility that extends beyond the measures of cultural preservation. Her playing is informed by the Japanese aesthetics of ma while challenging the common misinterpretation and beliefs of percussion as rhythm, and uses often stoic gestures of sonic textures, abstracted soundscapes and embodied phrasing that incorporates choreography as part of melody.

Helen Nagata (she/her/hers)
Helen M. Nagata, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Art History at Northern Illinois University (NIU) in the School of Art and Design.  Nagata teaches courses on East Asian Art and specializes in Edo-period paintings, prints and illustrated printed books in her research. Born in San Francisco and raised in Tokyo from age 11 to 18, she developed a desire to explore her Japanese cultural heritage and bridge cultures from a young age. This propelled graduate studies at U.C. Berkeley and Stanford University, as well as work and study experiences at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Yale University, the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, and Gakushūin University in Tokyo. She enjoys the nexuses where visual arts, dance, music, literature, poetry, and theater intersect. 

Tatsu Aoki
Aoki was born in 1958. The Toyoaki shamisen music is a part of Tokyo geisha music. Its origins are in the famed Edo period (beginning with the ascendancy of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1603) which was perhaps the most formative era in Japanese cultural history. Within the Toyoaki family, the ozashiki shamisen music that Aoki performs is mainly instrumental and used mostly as interlude music before the featured geisha ladies appear, or to fill time in large parties and gatherings. This particular shamisen style had been looked down from the Kabuki masters as “jamming” music for a longtime, but the contemporary society and music world had re-focused on this unique style of the geisha music. 

Jill Kiku Taura
Born in Chicago in 1951, Taura is a third-generation Japanese American. She received her BFA degree at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana in 1975 and MFA degree from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1977. In 1987, Taura moved to Japan, studying Japanese language at Waseda University. She also studied shime daiko and Shamisen with nagauta master Mochizuki Saburo. After returning to the US in 2007, Taura began Shamisen studies with Toyoaki Sanjuru (Tatsu Aoki), and joined the Tsukasa Taiko group of AIRMW. Taura is a 9 year recipient of the Illinois Arts Council Grant under the Master Apprentice program with Tatsu Aoki. In 2023, she received ‘Meimei’ certification in Shamisen from Tatsu Aoki’s mother Toyoaki Toyoko, becoming part of the 5th generation of the Toyoakimoto school.

Yoshinojo Fujima
Yoshinojo Fujima began her training in Fujima style Japanese classical dance as a teenager with Grandmaster Shunojo Fujima, the founder of Shubukai (previously Fujima Ryu of Chicago).  She has trained with him for over 30 years.  She attained her professional stage name and then passed the Grandmaster examination in Tokyo, Japan. Nihon buyou/kabuki buyou, or Japanese Classical Dance, draws from kabuki plays, historical figures, famous characters, and is an essential wellspring of Japanese cultural identity. She is now director of programming for Shubukai, and continues to teach & educate, as well as present and perform Classical Japanese Dance and create contemporary applications that inform modern Asian-American identity.

Yukio Nang
Yukio Nang started Fujima style Japanese classical dance when he was about 8 years old.  He grew up watching the training at the studio of Shubukai founder Shunojo Fujima, these rehearsals often included his mother, older brother, and his now current teacher, Yoshinojo Fujima.  For the last 12 years he has continued to dance, and with continued training, hopes to acquire his professional stage name in the Fujima style.

Subhadra Natarajan (she/her/hers)
Subhadra Natarajan began her musical journey at the early age of three and has trained for several years with many legendary music teachers. She has acquired a rich and varied repertoire of songs, many of them rare compositions handed down by yesteryear musical stalwarts of Carnatic Music. With her eclectic taste for music of all genres, she has also learnt bhajans (devotional compositions) in several Indian languages.

Subhadra is also a creative music composer. She has composed music for dance productions like Kalidasa's 'Meghdoot' and 'Ritu Samhaar', and Kavi Kunjara Bharathi's 'Azhagar Kuravanji.' She has also created several musical arrangements for orchestras (Indian and Western) that play Indian music. 

In addition to being an accomplished musician, Subhadra has had several years of dance training. She has performed lead roles in the dance-dramas 'Bhārathi Kannan,’ Jayadeva's 'Geetha Govindam,' Tulsidas 'Rāmāyan,' and Rabindranath Tagore's 'Chitrāngada.'

She is also a scholar in the Tamil language, and has conducted in-depth research on 'Musical forms in ancient Tamil literature.' As the music director of Samskriti Foundation in Naperville, IL, Subhadra trains aspiring students in the intricacies of Carnatic Music.

In her spare time, Subhadra enjoys oil-painting and designing and creating one-of-a-kind handcrafted jewelry.  

Achintya Ram (he/him/his)
Achintya is an Indian American based in Naperville, Illinois. He attended Waubonsie Valley High school and graduated from the University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign in 2019 with his Bachelor's in Mathematics & Computer Science. He has learned Carnatic music since the age of 5 from his grandmother, Subhadra Natarajan. He has also had an opportunity to spend his middle school years studying in Chennai, India, where he got a more immersive exposure to Indian culture. The intensive training has helped him explore different aspects of classical Indian music. He is also an avid singer of both Indian film and classical music as they blend together many similar elements. 

Angela Tam (she/her/hers)
Angela Tam is the founding Artistic Director of Yin He Dance. She is a dancer, choreographer, and teaching artist. A Chicago native, Angela began dancing as a child under Qiu Yue Jin. Since then, Angela has studied Chinese dance under Margaret Yuen and Grant Zhuang among others. She has also received instruction in ballet, jazz, contemporary, and classical Japanese dance. She has performed as a featured soloist at Choose Chicago's citywide Chinese New Year Kick Off events at Chicago Cultural Center presented by Chinese Fine Arts Society. She is a multi-year recipient of the Ethnic & Folk Arts Master Apprentice Grant from Illinois Arts Council Agency, most recently in 2023. She received her BA in East Asian Studies from New York University and holds a certificate in Arts and Culture Strategy from the University of Pennsylvania. Since founding Yin He Dance, Angela has been devoted to sharing her love of Chinese dance as a performer and educator. She also choreographs folkloric and contemporary work.

Judy Liu (she/her/hers)
Judy's interest in dance began at five years old under the instruction of Pao Ling Ling. She was previously the president of Jade, the Chinese dance club at Walter Payton College Prep.  Her team received a platinum ranking at the Tao Li Cup Midwestern Regionals in the 2017-18 school year and to the gold ranking at Tao Li Cup in New York in 2019. Her time with Yin He exposed her to the various genres of Chinese dance and even ballet. Currently, she is a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She plans to have a career in the dental industry as well as continue to dance with Yin He.

Vanitha Veeravalli (she/her/hers)
Vanitha Veeravalli is a dance artist, choreographer and teacher of Bharatanatyam, an ancient classical dance form of India, with over three decades of performance and teaching experience. She is the Founder & Artistic Director of Bharatam, a premier institution in Naperville, dedicated to nurturing and propagating Bharatanatyam.

She has choreographed many productions including ‘ANYA: The Other’, exploring Indian heritage narratives in new perspective, ‘PALAM: Bridges Across …’ experimenting with cross-cultural stories and rhythms, and ‘Growing into Bharatanatyam’, a retrospective into journey through arts. Vanitha has received many honor grants, including the Master Artiste award from the state of Illinois, multiple times. She is the recipient of ‘Acharya Kala Vipanchee’ and the ‘Dr. Saraswati’ awards for excellence in arts education, at the renowned Music and Dance Festival, Chennai India. Vanitha has served on select judge’s panel by the invitation of Illinois Arts Council.

As a torchbearer of classical traditions, Vanitha strives to kindle in her students the joy of self-expression through Bharatanatyam. To this end, many of her students have been recognized internationally, and by the State of Illinois for advance learning in arts. Vanitha, and Bharatam dancers, are well-recognized ambassadors of this rich culture.

Nikitha Velavan
Nikitha Velavan is a rising junior at University of Indiana this fall. She is currently studying supply chain management and healthcare management.

From a very young age, Nikitha has had passion for dance. This passion was nurtured through 14 years of Bharatanatyam training under the guidance of Ms. Vanitha Veeravalli, Artistic Director of Bharatam. Along the way, Nikitha has had the privilege of representing Bharatam at many diversity events and community programs.

Nikitha not only enjoys learning dance, she also loves to share her love of it. She was selected into Bharatam’s Helping Hasta©, a student leadership program, where she mentors younger students. She takes pride in helping younger students find their joy of dance, the same way she does.

Nikitha feels that Bharatanatvam has helped her gain a deeper appreciation of her Indian culture. The many years of learning, practicing and performing - and specially the arangetram training and recital - have helped her understand the importance of dedication, discipline, and hard work.

She wishes to keep learning, helping and dancing with Bharatam for many more years in the future.

Wanees Zarour (he/him/his)
Wanees Zarour is an award winning Palestinian-American composer, arranger, buzuq virtuoso and multi-instrumentalist steeped in maqam and jazz music. His compositional and arranging styles transcend borders and draw from traditions spanning the entire globe. As a community leader, he believes in creating a conducive environment to artistic expression and collective music-making. Zarour directs the Middle East Music Ensemble at the University of Chicago, co-directs the Chicago Immigrant Orchestra, and leads 'East Loop,' a septet that explores the intersections between maqam and jazz.

Zarour started his Western classical training on the violin at the age of 7 at the Edward Said Conservatory of Music displaying fast advancement in his musical education. A few years after, he began training in Maqam, Middle Eastern Repertoire, the Arabic violin and picked up the buzuq, a long-necked microtonal fretted instrument. Learning from the masters, Zarour was able to acquire extensive knowledge in this genre.

Wanees Zarour has performed, collaborated and recorded with renowned artists such as Simon Shaheen, Dave Leibman and Amir ElSaffar and was featured in major festivals in the US and internationally.  Wanees holds an MFA in Jazz Composition from DePaul University.

In 2021 Wanees Zarour was award the Chicago Esteemed Artist Award.   

C Mikhail (they/them/theirs)
C Mikhail is a bassist and singer born in Chicago to an Assyrian father and German mother. 

A recent graduate of the University of Chicago with a degree in Assyriology and Music, C was initially trained in the western classical music tradition. Joining the Middle East Music Ensemble during their studies, however, quickly turned their focus. C has now played bass and sung with MEME for 5 years, and recently joined the Chicago Immigrant Orchestra to bring their burgeoning expertise to the table and dive into the music of other cultures. Through C’s lessons with Wanees Zarour studying the Arabic modal system maqam, they hope to further rediscover their own roots and eventually become a cultural representative.

Outside of Arab music, C plays in an indie/punk band and works as an audio engineer, preferring to keep music close at all times.