Pallavi dance Group

Founded by Asako Takami, Pallavi Dance Group is a small community engaged in learning and sharing Odissi dance in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Asako passed away peacefully on November 3, 2007 in San Francisco. She touched many hearts and lives, even of those who never met her. She will be dearly missed.
Memorial Service Information

Interview with Asako, Hinduism Today, November 2000

Chaitee, one of Asako's former senior students, is now living in Seattle, Washington. She practices, performs & teaches there.

Previous Events


Asako Takami

 

October 27, 2007 7pm
Benefit Performance for Asako, An offering from the Bay Area Dance Community
Cultural Integration Fellowship (CIF)
2650 Fulton St
San Francisco, CA

Asako Takami is a well-known and loved Odissi Dancer of Japanese descent who has been sharing Odissi dance in the San Francisco Bay Area for 15 years. She started her training in 1983 with Smt. Kumkum Lal and then with legendary Late Padmavibhushan Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. For the past four years, she has been battling cancer, and she has not been able to dance or teach dance for almost a year and a half now.

This is a rare and unique dance event celebrating Asako - her teacher from India, the Bay Area Indian dance community and her students uniting together for their love of Asako to provide moral and financial support to her at this time of great need. We request you to come forward and share in our tribute so that your participation and generosity will echo our deepest sentiments.

June 10 2005, 7:30pm
Odissi Dance Recital by Pallavi Dance Group
105 Northgate Hall, UC Berkeley campus
Hearst @ LeRoy

Part of the proceeds benefit projects by Asha for
Education, an action group working for the education
of underpriveleged children in India. For more
information, visit http://www.ashanet.org/

May 9 2004, 2pm
Sangamam - Confluence
(a collaboration between Bharata Natyam dancer Vidhya Subramanian & Asako Takami)
ODC Theater
3153 17th Street
San Francisco

May 16 2004
Beliefs Made Visible: Educator Workshop

Asian Art Museum
200 Larkin St
San Francisco, CA
www.asianart.org

April 25 2004, 4pm
Asha for Education presents:
Odissi: Pallavi Dance Group's Annual Student Performance
145 Dwinelle Hall, UC Berkeley Campus
All proceeds benefit Asha for Education projects in India

April 24 2004, 1pm
Asako Takami & Chaitee Sengupta perform Odissi Dance for Kids
Fisher Children's Center

San Francisco Main Library (100 Larkin @Grove)
Free Library Event

2002 Odissi workshop with Manoranjan Pradhan
2002 Workshop with Mr. Pradhan

 

November 16 & 23 2003: Odissi Workshop

Visiting Artists Manoranjan Pradhan and Minati Dasgupta
conducted a very special Odissi workshop in Berkeley, CA. Mr. Pradhan has been visiting the US regularly for several years and often collaborates with Asako performing and teaching. This year we were very lucky to also have accomplished dancer Minati Dasgupta Pradhan visit and teach.

     

Manoranjan Pradhan and Minati Dasgupta
Manroanjan Pradhan & Minati Dasgupta

 

Odissi Dance
A rare night of sacred temple dance from Orissa, India
Sri Manoranjan Pradhan and Minati Dasgupta

with Asako Takami and Chaitee Sengupta

November 22, 2003 8pm
First Unitarian Universalist Society
1187 Franklin St. @ Geary (map)
San Francisco, CA


Manoranjan Pradhan and Minati Dasgupta are a husband and wife dance team from Orissa, India. A unique opportunity to see this talented and inspiring couple perform in the Bay Area, this was their first appearance together in the Bay Area.

Odissi Dance
Odissi dance comes from Orissa, a state on the Eastern cost of India. Originally performed in temples, Odissi has evolved into a sophisticated stage-based performing art. Odissi is characterized by soft, liquid upper body movement, strong footwork, and sculpturesque poses evocative of the carvings on Orissan temples.

Asako Takami dancing
Asako Takami
About Asako Takami
Asako Takami was born in Nigata, Japan. She first saw an Indian dance performance while studying art and Japanese design at Women’s College of Fine Arts in Tokyo. It captured her heart and became her life’s profession. Takami started her training in 1983 with Smt. Kumkum Lal and then with Late Padmavibhushan Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. In addition she has studied Pakhawaj with Guru Trinath Maharana in Delhi and Sanskrit with Dr. Masayuki Ohnishi. For three years in the early 1980s, Takami also recieved basic training in Kathakali and Manipuri dance forms from Smt. Kang mina, a Korean dancer of Indian dance. Ms Takami embodies an elegant sensibility with a reverence for this devotional art form.

Last updated: January 19, 2009 11:49 AM