Alexandria D'Souza dance/music Guild
of Monte Sereno, California

Ruth Alexander & Alexandria D'Souza 
Indian Classical Dancers using the medium of Bharatanatyam (Indian Classical Ballet) as the language to choreograph dances to 1) the Western Themes & 2)  Gospel Themes.
Producing dance/music performances for the elderly, children & the community for 12 years.  

 

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BIOGRAPHY

Ruth Bernadette Alexander took  Bharatanatyam dance lessons with her daughter Alexandria for  6 years for exercise and enrichment and fell in love with this beautiful dance Art Form of India.   She mainly dances with Alexandria at retirement homes/preschools in the Bay Area since 1995 and has performed with Alexandria in a daughter and mom duo dance on television. 

Ruth graduated from Indian Classical dance with her daughter Alexandria on July 20, 2002.  Ruth designed the brochures, invitations, theater lighting, chose colors for costumes, chose 6 out of the 7 songs/music for the program and also chose Lord of the Dance (Gospel hymn) for prologue, and composed the biblical ending/mangalam for this major performance.   She is married to Daniel D'Souza originally from Bombay, India for 18 years. 

As a child, Ruth participated in ballet (origins from Rome & France); as a teenager, modern dance/jazz and tap (origins from America) as an adult, ballroom dance in Australia (origins Europe & Argentina),  African dance, Bharatanatyam (Southern India), Bhangra, Bollywood, Yoga  and Flamenco.

Background information:
Ruth was born in the amazing land of District Six, Cape Town, South Africa which was destroyed, and completed her formal education in South Africa and then traveled to Australia, London, other countries in Europe and to cities within the U.S.A. 
She then decided to continue and complete her studies in Fashion Design at the Pacific Fashion Institute of Technology in San Francisco.   As a Fashion Design graduate, she designed and sold her clothing under Harare (meaning freedom) in the Bay Area before her marriage. She continued developing her fashion design skills on state of the art fashion related computer programs until little Alexander was born. Since 2004, Ruth designs new comfortable costumes for the shows they produce "America The Beautiful", " Let There Be Peace on Earth", "All Things Bright & Beautiful", "For The Beauty of The Earth", "Dancing Thru Time" and  upcoming performances.  At present she studies the mrudangam, and piano with her son Alexander.  Also exposed to carnatic vocal music. 


Training:
Ruth and Alexandria initially started in 1995 to train under a local instructor/teacher in San Jose. (note the definition of Guru means someone that was never taught by anyone)  who taught them the very basics of Bharatanatyam. 

Immediately after their graduation on 7/20/2002 they decided to dance under the guidance of a new excellent Indian Classical dance teacher from India (on an as needed basis) from 9/20/02 - 3/2004.  This talented lady was dedicated to each student and focused on perfecting posture correction in Bharatanatyam (Pandanullar style- The Pandanullar style or Thanjavur which we were initally exposed to basically refers to teachers in India  who actually lived in a particular village/district in southern India or state of Tamil Nadu) (these are the teachers who taught the instructors we had).  We are grateful to the teacher for her guidance, and who was willing to help us knowing we had our own mission.
  
They  continue to learn and are exposed to other dance art forms from around the world: 
American Modern Dance, Ballet, Tap, Ballroom, West African and Afro Cuban, 2005 Flamenco and starting in the Summer 2006 Bollywood dance- Bollywood Dance: (Bollywood dance is  fusion taken from many dance forms from around the world) -  borrowed  jazz, hip-hop, American Broadway, Latin basic movements, some folk dance moves, with a touch of the Indian classical hand gestures and mainly jazz hands danced to Indian music".  A famous American anchor lady said "the dances looks like one of the  famous American pop singers/dancer's moves with an indian costume to indian music".   Authentic Bhangra - Fall 2006-:  Bhangra is a vigorous and cheerful dance danced to the dhol (drum)  (the dance is a harvest folk dance which was created by field farmers) from the Northwest states Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir. Taking classes with a very creative, graceful instructor/dancer who was and learnt this dance in Punjab. 2007 at B. Yoga/and Camille 2001-2004 yoga- choreographing yoga dance combined with bharatanatyam dance for our shows.  August 2007-Dec 2007 Flamenco (folkloric dance) with a talented, inspirational and professional dancer. 2008 Exposed to African dance while visiting South Africa again.  Dance classes with a very talented/spiritual dancer originally from Malawi and teaching different steps from the african countries.  2008 - Salsa dance class.



 

Alexandria Kristin D'Souza born in the beautiful land of  Los Gatos/Monte Sereno,  now 18,  studied Indian Classical Dance/ Bharatanatyam since the age of 5 and ascended the stage at the Montgomery Theater at age 5.
The first instructor of this art form told us that Alexandria was ready to graduate at the age of 8 yrs. old, which was only three years of training in this art form (it normally takes about 7 years to graduate), but Alexandria decided and knew that she was ready at the age of 10 when we started training for her graduation. 
Alexandria worked very hard towards completing her very basic training (graduation as  a professional dancer) in the traditional dances of Bharatanatyam which she achieved 7/20/2002 at The Cubberley Theater in Palo Alto, California.   
Alexandria has participated in many dance performances at theaters in the bay area; The Montgomery Theater, S.J.,  Stage Co., S.J. Repertory Theater, The Cubberley Theater, in Palo Alto and the S.J. Convention Center. She also participated in a few local  television shows. 
At the age of 7 Alexandria choreographed an English song about girls around the world to Bharatanatyam (Indian Classical Ballet) for  "The Music Matters Show" which aired on local television stations for a two weeks. She has choreographed many songs since 7 years old and plans to continue choreographing  western themes in English. 
Her goal at present for  "Alexandria D'Souza dance/music Guild" is to continue to share her talents and give joy and happiness especially to the elderly/children (we cater to the American audience)  by dancing and playing piano at retirement campuses/informal venues which she has done consistently since the age of 5 year's old (professionally since 2002).  She has shown dedication to dance/music for the past 12 years.   She also volunteered to teach emotional/behavioral challenged children using I.C.B.. 
Allie performed two Christmas 2000/2006 shows in  Cape Town, South Africa and 2005 in New York and received raving reviews from the audience.
She does many performances per month as of 2003. 

Background information:
Alexandria started ballet and tap as a 3 year old in Los Gatos until first grade.  At 5 she started to learn Bharatanatyam (an artform from India) and graduated in 2002.   Summer 2004 (Inspiring Instructor): Flamenco  Alexandria exposed to Flamenco. (The Gypsies started their nomadic thousand year journey from the barren desert of Rajasthan-India, Egypt, Turkey, Hungary, Slovakia, France and Spain). Summer 2006 (Energetic Instructor) Bollywood Dance: Alexandria exposed to Bollywood dance (Bollywood dance is a fusion taken from many dance forms from around the world) -  borrowed  jazz, hip-hop, American Broadway, Latin basic movements, some folk dance moves, with a touch of the Indian classical hand gestures and mainly jazz hands". 2006-Allie also takes dance class at the high school  and she is exposed to the western dances - Hip Hop, Jazz, Latin Ballroom (she choreographed a hip hop dance for the Los Gatos High School recital 2007)   Exposed to Bhangra from the northwest states from 2007.  Summer 2007 exposed to the Tango instruction with a professional dynamic Latin Dancer. July-Sep. 2007 Alexandria continues learning Abhinya with her second Bharatanatyam teacher to polish up and learn nuances of the dance form (the instructor was fortunate to learn from a Bharatanatyam exponent who was the best in Abhinya ot dramatization from India).  We will always be grateful to this instructor.   The dance teacher's comment 9/2007 "Alexandria IS VERY TALENTED".   2007/2008 Chinese Dance at Los Gatos High School.

She has been playing/studying the piano since the age of 4 until the end of ther Senior year.  Her other love in addition to dance is gourmet cooking. 

Alexandria gradiated from high school and will be studying BioEngineering for her undergraduate studies at a UC as a function in life to help our world.  

Awards:
1995 Daves Avenue Talent Show "First Place for Singing"
2006 The President's USA Freedom Corps Volunteer Service Award
2007 The President's USA Freedom Corps volunteer Service Award
2008 The President's USA Freedom Corps Volunteer Service Award
For her (Contibution as a Performing Artist producing shows for the elderly/children)

Alexander Daniel D'Souza also born in the beautiful land of Monte Sereno, 8 year's old,  has been giving joy to the elderly  since the age of three by singing on his sister's program, only when he chose to and at 5 year's old has started to play the mrudangam for our shows and was a big hit for our show in Cape Town, South Africa 2006. 

2004-2005 - Alex studied western drum & guitar with a drum master.
2005-present - Alex studies to play the mrudangam (South Indian drum) with an accomplished/inspiring master who trained in India and toured with a genius musician from India.
Alexander plays mrudangam for all our shows
2005-present - He also studies  piano with his sister's wonderful piano teacher since 7/2005. 
2006 Studied yoga 2006/07
2007-present does Bhangra dance with his mom and sister
2007 - composed/wrote his first "Jazz Remix" song

He will be a 4th grader in the fall; has a place in the sun for soccer (playing competitive soccer since Spring 2008);  a passion for golf , loves swimming and most of all enjoys playing with friends. 

Published:
2005  Published in Creative Comm. Inc.  young poet 
2007  Published in Creative Comm. Inc.  young poet
2008  Published in Creative Comm. Inc. young poet

 

 

 

 

 

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