Riya Mukhopadhyay, daughter of Dr. Deb & Mrs. Lipika Mukhopadhyay, has completed her Bharatanatyam Arangetram.  The impeccable performance was held on July 27, 2013 at the Clark County Library.

She got an honor of being the only Indian American in Las Vegas to complete  Arangetram this year and received a letter from Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman for her extraordinary accomplishment.

An Arangetram is a Bharatanatyam graduation. Bharatanatyam is a classical  Indian dance form which involves expression and pure dance. It takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and years of training to complete an Arangetram.  Riya Mukhopadhyay has been learning Bharatanatyam for eight years as a disciple of Kalashri Asha Gopal at the Arathi School of Dance.  Riya has been dancing since she was three, beginning with ballet and tap and continued ballet for nine years. With a passion for dance, Riya eventually started learning Bharatanatyam at the age of seven. 

The performance included visiting musicians from India.  Vocals were by Deepthi Srinath, S.V. Balakrishna was on Mridangam, R. Raghunandan on Flute and Pradyumna SG was on Rhythm Pads. 

Riya’s guru Mrs. Asha Gopal is an accomplished dancer and a disciple of celebrated teachers: Guru Muthiah Pillai, Guru Kittappa Pillai, and Professor U.S. Krishna Rao. In addition to performing at auspicious events in many cities in several continents. Asha is the proud recipient of many prestigious awards including NRI Excellence award in London, England and Citizen of the Year award from the Asian American Association of Arizona (2000). 

Asha Gopal’s Arathi School of Dance is in its 32nd year of operation, and offers classes in Phoenix/Tucson, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada. The premier institution has graduated over 160 students, and on many, many more, has left a lasting, though perchance ever so subtle, cultural bonding experience.