-Founder & Artistic Director
Guru Suba Parmar, Founder, Shubanjali School of Performing Arts (1992), is a highly sought- after dancer, teacher and choreographer in the NJ area and a proponent of the vintage Pandanallur style of Bharatanatyam. She is the direct disciple of Kalaimamani Guru Indra Rajan and Pandanallur Srinivasa Pillai, both acclaimed doyens of this respected tradition. She is also training in Konnakol under the guidance of Shri Vinayakaram Selvaganesh and advanced nattuvangam concepts under Guru Swamimalai K. Suresh.
Guru Suba is recognized as a pioneer in the arts community and her original artistic creations have received rave reviews from critics and connoisseurs. She is the recipient of many prestigious awards including the US Presidential Scholar’s “Most Influential Teacher Award” presented by the Obama Administration through the Young Arts Fellowship. The coveted “Balasaraswati Award of Excellence” by Muthamizh Peravai, in Chennai, India in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the promotion of Arts in the US. “New Jersey Naatya Kalanidhi” award presented by the Krishna Vrundavana Temple, NJ and the most recent “Lifetime Achievement Award” by Spandana, NJ. She is also “Indian Raga’s” distinguished teacher of the Indian Raga Fellow.
She is the recipient of various grants from Union County Cultural and Heritage Affairs and from NJ Arts Council. Over the years, Guru Suba Parmar has evolved a rigorous methodology that inspires students to develop a thorough understanding of this fine art. The school has won many laurels in competition nationally and has created promising dancers who are pretty well acclaimed in the professional scene. Shubanjali’s laurels extend beyond teaching, and the organization has received rave reviews for its exemplary original dance productions, including ‘Santa N’ Shiva,’ Rendezvous with Shubanjali’, ‘Splash the Wonder,’ ‘Tales of Krishna, ’‘Chauladevi,’ ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ ‘Lured by the Myths’, ‘Oneness’, ‘Tribute to the Legends’, ‘Tattva Tapas Tejas”, TATHASTU, among many others. Guru Suba has been regularly performing for the Sivananda Organizations world-wide for over 25 Years in US, Canada, Bahamas, South America and Europe. She is an excellent storyteller and through the medium of Indian classical dance, brings to life the philosophy and stories from Mythology making them understandable to global audiences.
-Co Artistic Director
Guru S. K. Suresh is a veteran artiste and an internationally recognized Nattuvanar,Vocalist, Dancer, Composer and Choreographer. He hails from a traditional family of musicians. His father and guru Pandanallur P.V.Kalidas is a renowned nagaswara vidwan, of the pandanallur lineage. S.K.Suresh is a grand nephew of the veteran Guru Kalaimamani, Sangeetha Kala Sikhamani Sri Swamimalai S.K. Rajarathnam Pillai. He underwent rigorous training for a decade in Dance, Music and Nattuvangam from him. He learnt vocal music from the illustrious Nagaswara Vidwan Thirucherai T.V.S. Sivasubramania Pillai and further training from the violin maestro Lalgudi G. Jayaraman. He is an ‘A’ grade vocal artist of the All India Radio. He holds Bachelor’s degree in music, Master’s in Bharatanatyam from the Madras University. He has also done M.Phil in music. At present Suresh is working as a guest faculty at the Madras University Indian Music Department and Kalakshetra. Suresh belongs to the rare group of artists who can conduct a full-fledged dance recital with nattuvangam(wielding of cymbals) while providing vocal accompaniment simultaneously. He has received numerous titles including, Kanchi Kamakotipeetam Astana Vidwan Title from Kanchi Shankaracharyar in 2010. Ustad Bismillah Khan YUVA PURASKAR 2010 from the Sangeet Natak Academi New Delhi in 2010. Natya Sangeetha Kala Bharathi from Bhatrat Kalachar Chennai in 2011. Suresh is a founder Director of ‘Samarpana Academy of Fine Arts’, Chennai, where he teaches Bharatanatyam and vocal music. He joined Shubanjali in 2016 as Co-Artistic Director and leads the artistic efforts of the school in the US.
