Nartan academy of Dance was established in 1985, shortly after its founder and artistic director, Mrs. Mrugakshi Patel, immigrated to the Chicago area. It started as the school of Bharatnatyam style of Indian classical dance with ten students. Over the past 24 years, its activities have grown in student size and dance styles. Currently there are over 100 students learning Bharatnatyam at Nartan. The classes are conducted in multiple locations, but primarily at Nartan’s dance studio in Naperville, Il. Over the years over 550 students have learned the Bharatnatyam dance style from Mrugakshi. In the last five years over 20 students have mastered the complete repertoire of Bharatnatyam and have graduated from Nartan, performing an intense and beautiful recital known as the Aarangetrum.
		Mrugakshi is an accomplished exponent of the Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi styles of Indian classical dance and a well known choreographer of Indian folk dances. She received dance training from Mrinalini Sarabhai at the Darpana Institute of Performing Arts in Ahemdabad, India. With a Masters of Arts in Sanskrit and a Visharad degree in Indian Classical music, she has a unique, well-rounded background to interpret and impart the ancient dance forms to the next generation. Before teaching in the United States, Mrugakshi served as a Gold Medalist and Professor of Sanskrit at St. Xavier College in Ahmedabad, India and performed extensively in Gujrat. She is currently the director of Nartan Academy of Dance in Naperville, Illinois. Over the last twenty-eight years she has taught classical and folk dances in Ohio, New Jersey, and Illinois, receiving several prizes for choreography from the Federation of Gujarati Associations in North America and The Illinois Arts Council, including a Master Teacher Award and the Program Award from the IIAC multiple times.