Meet Team Thumak

Founder, Kathak and Bollywood Instructor
Varalika Srivastava
Born and raised in India, Varalika has a deep love for all things Indian but Indian dance forms are her absolute favorite! She is a trained Bharatnatyam as well as Kathak dancer. She has been dancing since the age of ten. Over the years, she has taken various workshops to dip her feet in other dance forms like Jazz, Hip Hop and Belly Dance.
Dancing is her way of self expression. She loves to perform but what makes her the happiest is teaching and seeing her students perform on stage. She cherishes the bond she shares with each of them and works on building their self confidence. She loves to travel, watch movies and has a special love for cafes, bakeries and book stores.

Co-founder, Bollywood and BollyX Instructor
Christine Willett
Christine has immense love for both dance and fitness and shares it through teaching. With Thumak Dance, she combines both to make dance fitness a fun experience for her students. She is a certified BollyX Fitness instructor and loves to share her passion for fitness with her students. She also has a strong enthusiasm for dance and continues to learn new styles including Bollywood, Semi Classical Indian, Contemporary, Belly Dance, Ballroom and Dance Hall. Over the years, Christine has performed at venues including the Kennedy Center Millenium Stage, the National Theater and abroad. When she's not dancing, she loves getting brunch and watching movies with her husband, son and cat.

Virtual kathak trainer from India
Anjana Kumari
Anjana started her training at a very tender age and has a Post Diploma from Kathak Kendra (The National Institute of Kathak Dance), New Delhi under Pt Rajendra Gangani. She also holds Kathak Praveen from Prayag Sangeet Samiti, Allahabad. She has performed extensively in India and abroad in places like Singapore, Pakistan, Indonesia and Australia, Germany, UK, Romania, Georgia, Thailand, Netherlands, China, Turkey, Russia etc. She has worked with some eminent personalities in the dance world which includes Ms. Sharmistha Mukherjee, Kathak dancer, politician and daughter of the 13th President of India. She joined the Drishtikon Dance Foundation in July 2015 and has been since dancing as a repertory member. Apart from her education in dance Anjana also holds a Sangeet Prabhakar in Vocals and an M. A. in English.

Bollywood Instructor
Saanvi Kakarlapudi
Saanvi started her Bollywood journey at the age of 4 and has fallen in love with Dance ever since. She has explored many styles of dance including Kuchipudi, Jazz, Ballet and Modern. Dance is her form of self expression and nothing makes her happier. She especially fell in love with Bollywood because of how colorful and expressive each song is. When choreographing, she loves to experiment with different dance styles because that's what makes Bollywood so much fun; it's an amalgamation of different dance styles from all around the world! She loves young kids and she hopes that kids at a young age can find their passions for dance just like she did.