Akhi Vadari’s family is originally from Tamil Nadu in southern India but he was born and raised in Seattle. He started dancing at 8 years old when he began going along with his sister to her dance practices. Although she ended up quitting dance class, Akhi never stopped and has continued to study Bharatanatyam, which he describes as being very similar to theater because of the focus on storytelling and facial expressions.
In a way, Akhi’s journey with dance has been the opposite of others who started in India; while he started dancing in Seattle, he is now finding that his training is taking him to India. He completed his arangetram when he was in 9th Grade and shortly after switched to online schooling so that he could begin to study with teachers in India. Akhi also went on to participate in the Washington State Heritage Arts Apprenticeship Program under the mentorship of master artist Anwesha Das.
Akhi is continuing to grow as a dancer, having recently been accepted into the dance program at Columbia and is looking forward to earning his BFA. He has decided to take a gap year due to COVID, but he feels fortunate to be able to study with dance teachers from India online for now and looks forward to both attending school and visiting India for more training when he is able to.
Find him on social media below:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/akhileshvadari
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004323106101
