Meet the Founder

From Kerala, with rhythm

Clair Kuriakose, known to the dance world as Shingari, is a well-known artist in the South Asian community. She took her first dance step at the age of four in Kerala, India. After immigrating to the United States with her family, she continued her classical training in Bharatanatyam with the Nritya School of Dance and Sreepadam School of Arts.

She began teaching dance at just thirteen. By the time she graduated high school, she was teaching fifty students every week.

Dance never stopped

Shingari entered the Physician Assistant program at St. John's University in New York, and even through a rigorous academic program she kept teaching weekly classes and served as Captain of RAAZ, the university's South Asian dance team.

In 2008, she realized a lifelong dream and opened Shingari's School of Rhythm. The school has since grown across the country, and her award-winning choreography is brought to life on stages around the world. Her specialties span Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, folk, Bollywood, modern, jazz, and hip-hop, and she completed her Bharatanatyam Arangetram in 2013.

Today Shingari lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she continues to teach private lessons.