Lucrezia Maniscotti is a bharata nāṭyam (Guru Adyar K Lakshman) and drama artist, teacher and scholar based in Italy. In 1993 she started studying theatre and working on the stage as actress. She begin learning bharata nāṭyam in Italy under late Smt. Krishnaveni Lakshmanan students, Monica Gallarate and Maresa Moglia. Since 2006 she was undergoing intense training under the sage guidance of Padmasree Adyar K.Lakshman and Smt Deepa Baba Prasad at Bharatha Choodamani Academy of fine arts in Chennai where she took her dance Diploma after her Debut Perfomance at Kapalishwara Temple in 2009. She is also learning Carnatic vocal and nattuvangam under Bhagavatulu Seetarama Sharma and abhinaya from Smt Indira Kadambi. Her passion for Indian culture motivated her to complete the MA in Indology from the University of Milan.
On graduating, Lucrezia was awarded a prestigious scholarship by the University of Milan for pursuing one year of advanced studies in bharata nāṭyam in India, so she lived in Chennai for one year and she performed her solo shows during the Madras Music and Dance Season Festivals in 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, then in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore as well as many venues in Europe (Indian Embassy of Berlin, Indian Consulate of Milan, Theatre and cultural centers). Lucrezia is also founder of a cultural association for promoting Indian classical performing arts in Italy, in which she is artistic director and teacher of Sangam Academy (Sagome Teatro Association), organizing, a part from regular classes, performances and lecture demonstrations with Indian gurus and teachers.. She is also performer and choreographer for the groups “DuniaTrio” (an ensemble of world music) and “Milon” (dance and music from Rabindranath Tagore’s opera). In 2010 Lucrezia received a prestigious fellowship from the UK based organization “Milapfest”, for travelling and deepen her bharata nāṭyam studies.
At present she is continuing her studies under the guidance of Prof. CV Chandrashekar, Mavin Khoo, Smt Indira Kadambi, Renjith and Vijna, Smt Leela Samson and TV Ramprasadh for vocal. Her Sangam Academy is the first Italian structured school of bharata nāṭyam that prepare student in theoretical subjects as well as practice in order to present their arangetram and eventually to take dance professionally. She is performing and teaching regularly in India and Europe.
Here a review of her last program in Chennai (August 2016):
And a video related to the performance mentioned before: