Nawaz Mirajkar & Sruti Pegatraju

Nawaz Mirajkar

Born on 18th November 1976, in Pune, India. Nawaz Mirajkar hails from a proud lineage of musicians. From the tender age of seven, Nawaz began playing the tabla under the tutelage of his father, Ustad Mohammad Hanif Khan Mirajkar. In 1988, Nawaz was awarded a scholarship by the Centre for Cultural Resources and Training, India, under the Cultural Talent Search Scholarship Scheme by the Government of India. He trained as a musician and a tabla player and graduated with the Tabla Visharad Degree (First Class), awarded by Akhil Bharathiya Ghandrva Maha Vidyalaya Mandal in 1994. In 1996, Nawaz was invited to teach tabla at the Temple of Fine Arts in Singapore. Given the cosmopolitan environment of Singapore, he continues to draw inspiration from western, oriental and Indian elements to fuel the creative process.

Sruti Pegatraju

Sruti has been dancing for the past 25 years, learning under the Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society (SIFAS) banner from a young age. She started her dance journey with Smt Sitaravamma Sandrasegaran with whom she completed her Arangetram. She has continued her tutelage with various gurus at SIFAS and is currently a student of Guru P N Vikas.
Sruti has performed in various SIFAS Alumni dance productions including Krishna Bharatam, Pravaha, Aham under inspirational choreographers Sri Sheejith Krishna and Sri Shyamjith Kiran respectively. In 2022, Sruti and her colleagues jave choreographed and performed Maanudam, a piece about peace and humanity, performed at the Esplanade Outdoor Theatre. This led to a commissioned production close to her heart that she co-choreographed
and performed in, Human | Nature which was presented and well received at the Esplanade Theatre Studio in September 2023. Sruti has also collaborated with artists in Singapore and abroad on various disciplines, merging presentations of Bharatanatyam with art forms such as ballet and flamenco.
Sruti is a director of Kalpavriksha Fine Arts, an arts company looking to connect the Singapore youth to the traditional arts. She is also the founder of The Introspective, a content platform looking to bring relevance of the arts to larger audiences. When Sruti is not dancing, she is a Carnatic vocalist, a ballet student and a technology consultant.