About
Dance just for the love of it
History of TFA
The Temple of Fine Arts Adelaide (“TFA Adelaide”) is a dance company initiated in April 2012 by Vithya Karthigesu. It is a branch of an Internationally acclaimed institution called the Temple of Fine Arts with its parent institution in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Temple of Fine Arts Kuala Lumpur was founded by our Guru and Mentor His Holiness Swami Shantananda Saraswathi in 1981 and since then has had branches all over Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, India, USA, Australia and New Zealand.
“Dance just for the love of it” is our motto and guiding spirit. We in TFA Adelaide welcome you to join us in our endeavour in propagating and spreading these beautiful artforms,
Our Vision
TFA Adelaide’s Vision is to promote our rich Indian heritage and culture to the people in Adelaide, Australia especially the youth. We believe that Dance and Music are essential to the holistic development of a child. TFA seeks to be the centre where a young child or even adults could come and learn Indian dance from teachers who understand the true source of creativity and inspiration.
About TFA Adelaide
The artistic director and principal of TFA Adelaide is Vithya Karthigesu who is a qualified Bharatanatyam and Odissi Teacher. Vithya completed her Bharatanatyam “arangetram”/ graduation in 1992 at the Temple of Fine Arts Kuala Lumpur and then went on to do her Odissi Solo graduation in 2010 at TFA Penang.
TFA Adelaide has performed for State festivals such as the Ozasia and Fringe festivals, Community functions, Temple festivals, private functions and also our own annual school show which is a sell out each year and has won public recognition.
Vithya still continues gaining more knowledge in Odissi under her Guru, Ratikant Mohapatra from Orissa, India through yearly or bi annual workshops. Besides that we also do have many external/ visiting dance teachers and exponents from other countries visiting us regularly for exams, lecture demonstrations and workshops.
Dance is a conversation between body and soul
About Vithya Karthigesu
A lawyer by profession, Vithya Karthigesu has now made a complete career switch by dedicating her time and effort into teaching dance full time at The Temple of Fine Arts Adelaide branch which she set up in April 2012. Born and brought up in Malaysia, Vithya migrated to Australia in 2011 and now lives there with her husband and two sons. She completed her Bharatanatyam arangetram in September 1992 at the Temple of Fine Arts Kuala Lumpur and immediately after that Vithya ventured into Odissi which she always had a passion and fascination for. Her Odissi journey started with Srimathi Geetha Shankaran Lam who was teaching at the Temple of Fine Arts Kuala Lumpur during that time. Her love for Odissi grew even after marriage and 2 children. In December 2010, at the age of 39, Vithya completed her Odissi Solo debut entitled “In Search of Vidhya” at The Temple of Fine Arts Penang.
Vithya has taught Bharatanatyam and Odissi in Penang before migrating to Australia. To date, Vithya still continues to further her Bharatanatyam training under Shri Shankar Kandasamy from TFA Kuala Lumpur and her Odissi training under the distinguished guidance of Guru Ratikanth Mohapatra who is the son of the legendary Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra one of the founders of modern day odissi.
Vithya now heads the Temple of Fine Arts Adelaide branch and is teaching both classical dance forms of Bharatanatyam and Odissi. She also teaches Indian Folk Dances and Bollywood dances for certain events. She and her students have performed widely in Adelaide and have won critical acclaim from the public. Most recently in 2021 March, the Temple of Fine Arts Adelaide performed “Margam” a Bharatanatyam repertoire and “Simply Odissi” an Odissi repertoire at the Adelaide Fringe to sold out shows.
