Neena Gulati - Founder/Director

 was born in New Delhi, India, and began dancing when she was only four years old. She performed her Arangetram at  the Fine Arts Theater in New Delhi in 1961.

 Critics applauded her debut with comments such as the following from Youth of India: "Neena has an inimitable style.  
 The  flawless sense of rhythm and deep devotion with which she dances with abandon places her as one of the leading  young  Bharata Natyam dancers in the Capital. She is intensity and enchantment.." "...there is not one in Delhi's crop of  young  performers to match Kumari Neena's accurate style and her creativeness."

 A master of the Panthanallur style of Bharat Natyam, Neena Gulati has received high critical acclaim for her professional  performances throughout India and the United States. In 1964, Neena was invited to perform at the United Nations  General Assembly. Since moving to the U.S. in 1967, she has performed at countless functions and universites across  
 the  continent and in England.

 Neena has taught at Brown University, and has been guest artist in several Universites and schools in New England. She  gives lecture- demonstrations, explaining and demonstrating her art form to varied audiences. Neena has collaborated  
 with  many artists of different disciplines, including actors, musicians, dancers and poets. She has been involved in  numerous  benefit performences and has choreographed dance dramas. An energetic and loving teacher, Neena is an  excellent  example of the guru-shishya tradition of teaching that has preserved the purity of Indian classical dance since 
 the  time of  the vedas.

 In 1993, the Boston Globe described her as "a pioneer in bringing classical Indian dance in all its nuance to New  England."

 Wendy Jehlen - Creative Director

 has been a student and performer of the Bharata Natyam style of classical South Indian dance since the age of seven. In  the United States she has studied under Neena Gulati, at the Triveni School of Dance in Brookline, where she is presently  Creative Director and co-choreographer. She has also studied in Madras, India at Bharata Kalanjali under  the internationally acclaimed dancers and choreographers, the Dhananjayans.

 Wendy has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and India. Wendy's choreography incorporates her training  and experience in South Indian classical dance, Contemporary dance and other styles of movement, especially focusing 
 on  the expressive element in dance, and working with texts from mystical traditions including the Sufi tradition of the  Islamic  world and the Bhakti tradition in South Asia.

 Recently she has choreographed and danced with a group called FabricaMusica, based at Fabrica, SpA, a  communications research center located outside of Venice, Italy and funded by a generous grant from United Colors of  Benetton.

 Wendy is a graduate of Brown University with a degree in Storytelling and Performance. She received her Masters in  Religion and Performance from Harvard Divinity School in May 2000.

 Mary Koperski - Dance Instructor - Brookline Branch

 began dancing ballet and afro-Caribbean styles at age 13. At 17, she was accepted to NYU School of the Arts as a  dance performance major. At NYU, she was introduced to Classical Indian Dance by Ritha Devi, teaching the  
 Kuchipudi  style. Enamored with the style, Mary studied under Ritha Devi in NYC and subsequently moved to Boston 
 to deepen her  study under Neena Gulati in the Bharata Natyam style, performing frequently through out the New 
 England  area. She  completed her arangetram, under Neenaji's guidance, in 2006. She also completed a training course 
 in yoga  therapy with  A.G. Mohan in Chennai, India (2006).

 Mary has taught ballet, yoga and Bharata Natyam in many venues including Kripalu Institute, Khalsa Women's Summer  Camp (New Mexico), NorthEast Youth Ballet and Somerville elementary after-school programs. She incorporates her  knowledge of western dance styles and yoga to make Bharata Natyam as accessible as possible to her students. She  loves to work with beginning dance students, both youngsters and adults, and pays particular attention to body alignment  and proper posture.

 Mary holds a BFA in Dance from Empire State College. She is a certified Ayurvedic Consultant (Kripalu Institute),  assisting individuals in establishing optimal well-being through a balanced lifestyle.

 She continues her studies both

in dance with Neenaji and through her daily yoga practice. She currently performs with  
 the Triveni Ensemble.

Kruti Avadhani

Oami Amarasingham

Tejasi Thatte

Tejasi Thatte has been a student of Bharat Natyam since 1993 under the guidance of Neena Gulati at the Triveni School of Dance.  She continues to study the Bharat Natyam, Kuchipudi and Odissi styles of dance. Tejasi completed her Arangetram in January 2003 in Pune, Maharashtra, India. She has performed in various capacities in an array of venues, both nationally and internationally. 

Tejasi has been teaching at Triveni’s Brookline branch since the summer of 2010 and focuses on good posture as well as purposeful movement of each part of the body. She thinks it is important to smile when you dance, not just to shine on stage, but to express the joy you have for dance. 

Tejasi is currently studying to receive a Juris Doctorate at Northeastern University School of Law.