About Dr. Sandhya Virsinh Purecha
Dr. Sandhya Purecha, Director of Kala Parichaya and Managing Trustee & Honorable Secretary of Shri Sarfojiraje Bhosale Bharata Natyam Training & Research Centre, is the pioneer and brain behind the establishment of the Bharata College of Fine Art & Culture.

Dr. Purecha received training in Bharata Natyam under the wing of the eminent

maestro of arts Acharya Parvati Kumar through the “Guru Shishya Parampara”. Gaining proficiency in both, she began performing under the guidance of her guru and soon became a noteworthy exponent of the Bharata Natyam style. Her Guru has helped her blossom into an artisté with technical versatility and immaculate proficiency in Nritya, Abhinay and Choreography elements of Bharata Natyam.
 

She earned her doctorate in “Natya Shastra”, an ancient Sanskrit text for Bharata Natyam. Her research work was printed in a book, “Theory and Practice of Angika Abhinaya in Bharata Natyam”, published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai.

She is affiliated to several universities in India and abroad, offering her expertise, conducting lectures, demonstration and seminars. She has trained several


talented students in India and other countries as well, and is a recognised and respected authority in the world of Indian classical dance.

She is a recipient of Senior Fellowship from the Department of Culture, Ministry of Human Resources. She has also received the Cultural State Award in 2006 & the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Award in 2007 as well as the Gujarat Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2007.
 
About Shri Sarfojiraje Bhosale Bharata Natyam Training & Research Centre®
 
 
The Sarfojiraje Bhosale Bharata Natyam Training & Research Centre was registered mainly to perpetuate the memory of one of the greatest exponents of the classical art of dance and music “Sarfojiraje Bhosale” the former ruler of the Tanjavur State in Tamilnadu. Sarfojiraje Bhosale is remembered not because he remained in power for a long period-longer than any other king of the state but because of the benevolent work he had done for his subject; particularly for promoting Indian art of dance and music - in that Bharata Natyam is
particular. The literary work of Sarfojiraje had no boundaries of language as he wrote and composed it in Sanskrit, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu languages which could be seen and witnessed by scholars and researchers in the famous Saraswati Mahal Library in Tanjavur.
 
Acharya Parvati Kumar, an idealist art lover and scholar of Tanjavur School of dance, has done extensive research on the work of Sarfojiraje Bhosale. The research work of Acharya Parvati Kumar was applauded and published on 26th Jan., 1982 by the Maharashtra Rajya Sahitya Sanskruti Mandal. Drawing inspirations from Acharya Parvati Kumar, a research centre was created to conduct various activities promoting art of dance and music after the name of Sarfojiraje Bhosale. Additionally, a Fine Arts College was instituted with a wish
 
to develop it into a full-fledged college with a department of Dance and Music. In keeping with this dream the educational programme has been made comprehensive.
 
The College is named after the great Sage Bharata, the author of the Natya Shastra. The word Bharata represents the acronym or eponymous for the three syllables Bha (bhava), Ra (raga), Ta (tala). The Natyashastra written by Bharata more than two millenniums old. It is a unique work of Indian literature. Though the title relates to theatre, it is infact an encyclopedia dealing with all possible subjects connected with the fine arts. This voluminous work composed almost entirely is verse (about 6,000 couplets) with a sprinkling of prose, is divided into thirty six chapters and contains valuable data on the Dance, Drama and Music.
 

About Sarfojiraje Bhosale Centre’s Bharata College Of Fine Arts & Culture, Mumbai
 

The Bharata College of Fine Arts and Culture was launched as a pioneering venture into the field of Dance as a Fine Art. This was done with a view to provide an alternative vocational field for students interested in pursuing dance as a full time carrier. The college is also an effort to preserve and propagate the long lasting tradition of classical dance which has been passed down from generation to generation through the “Guru Shishya Parampara”. Bharata College of Fine Arts and Culture, affiliated with Kavikulaguru Kalidasa Sanskrit Vishvavidyalaya, Ramtek, Nagpur, provides Diploma, Graduation Degree, Post Graduation Degree and Ph. D in Bharatanatyam. The college management genuinely wishes that the course will be an opening for all dancers to enter the higher academic portals of arts & culture to enjoy authenticity and at the same time pass on this culturally rich Fine Art to the next generation.