Rutuja started learning dance at the age of four, her interest grew over time and she aspires to promote the classical heritage of our country in the era of Westernization.

Rutuja Lonkar is a Bharatanatyam Dancer, Teacher and Founder at Nrityasajja Dance Academy.

Rutuja hails from Nagpur.

Recalling her childhood, Rutuja says that she comes from a middle-class family. She had lived in a joint family and was the eldest daughter in her family, so she had a lot of responsibility for her. She learned multi-tasking, time management, and values from her family. She feels blessed to have a supportive family, friends, and teachers.

Sharing about her journey, Rutuja says that she was interested in dance but her interest grew when she started attending workshops by her guru when she was in fifth standard. She has been learning this classical art for the last 14 years under the guidance of her guru, Meera Chandrashekharan. She has also been teaching Bharatanatyam since she was in her eighth standard. She completed her ‘Visharad’ in Bharatanatyam from Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya. She also performed her ‘Arangetram’ in 2019. She considers dance as a beautiful part of her life.

Rutuja shares that opening her own dance academy was a dream for her, she wanted to create an open space where new aspirants could make mistakes and learn from each other. She started her own dance academy with one of her friends, Khushi Pareekh after talking to their gurus in 2020 when COVID was at its peak. Because of the lockdown, they switched to online platforms and gradually gained more students. They have students across the world.

Talking about her mistakes, Rutuja says that she trusted people easily which was a mistake. However, she thinks that making mistakes is also a part of life and one should learn from their mistakes.

When asked about her role models, Rutuja says that her gurus have been her role models and credits them for her success. Her parents and friends have always supported her in her journey.

Rutuja’s life mantra is “You become what you believe.”

To all the new aspirants, Rutuja says that there is no age for learning, one just needs passion to pursue dance. She advises them to be consistent in their practice. If an artist stops learning, his art ends there, she says.