Born in Miami, Florida, Andrea began dancing at the early age of 5 and later became a student at the Miami Conservatory and a dancer in the Miami Ballet Company. As a teenager, she spent summers in New York City dancing with the School of American Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet. In college she discovered newfound freedom in the rooted earthy essence of African dance and authentic movement practices like Theater Movement. Andrea danced in a modern dance company in her late 20s and in 2001 went back to school to pursue a self-directed masters degree in what she came to call Integral Dance. With an emphasis in Dance and Spirituality, her focus was dance as a spiritual practice. Ignited by her discovery of Indian dance as a sacred art form, she sought out teachers with whom to study and eventually went to Chennai, India to live and learn in the traditional gurukulam style at the Dhananjayans’ school Bharata Kalanjali. Andrea knew with a kind of soulful recognition that she had found a true calling in Indian dance. She returned home to continue her training with Katherine Kunhiraman and has since been sharing the art form with thousands of people in the U.S. and in India, as both a performing artist and gifted teacher.
Andrea gave her first full-length solo Bharata Natyam performance on November 8, 2003. It was then that she had her first distinct experience of a sustained spiritual opening. While dancing, she felt that she was being danced, as though she were a portal through which divine energies were being expressed. She had the visceral sensation that her longing for God had merged into the presence of God within her. From that profound experience, she came to see performance art as a means to access significant spiritual connection, and that as a dancer, she has the capacity to inspire others by offering a reflection of the Divine through dance. Touched deeply by her experiences of learning and sharing Bharata Natyam, Andrea thought she would never study any other form of dance. It was an unexpected and fortuitous surprise to find herself later that year in a hula class on the Big Island of Hawai’i. When she approached Kumu Raylene Kawaiae'a at the end of class to thank her, she mentioned that her class made her want to move to Hawai’i. Kumu Raylene responded, “You’re welcome.” She has been in love with hula ever since and maintained her studies with other teachers on the mainland, visiting North Kohala and taking classes with Kumu whenever she can. Andrea has also been a performing member of Hula O Kahawai since its inception in 2006. Hula has become for Andrea another cherished gateway to life’s deeper mysteries and it is through hula that she has accessed aspects of Hawaiian consciousness that have helped to mature her spiritual understanding and development. Andrea has continued to have experiences of spiritual communion during performances of both Hula and Bharata Natyam. The quality of connection when she dances hula is more specific to its earthy, indigenous origins and its embodiment of the energy of Flow. This, along with hula’s capacity to embody and express qualities of aloha, has inspired Andrea to continue learning and sharing the art form through performance offerings and classes. Andrea has been teaching dance since 1993. She has taught various styles, including Indian Classical, Hawaiian Hula, movement meditation, creative movement, and modern dance and choreographs in both Hula and Indian dance forms. Integral Dance, founded by Andrea in 2003, was established to propagate spiritual and cultural dance forms with the intention to uplift and inspire others through classes and performances. Ananda Natya School of Indian Dance provides instruction in Bharata Natyam to children and adults. Ananda Natya Indian Dance Company, a youth dance troupe, offers performances as well as lecture/demonstrations in schools and other public venues. Andrea has been teaching hula since 2007 and founded Ka Pi'o O Ke Ānuenue, a hula hui (group) in 2009 to perpetuate the values of aloha through hula. Classes in hula are offered to women, men, and children at the beginning and intermediate levels. Hawaiian Hula Dance and Classical Indian Dance in Ashland Oregon. Copyright © 2010 Integral Dance. All rights reserved. |
Andrea Luchese, MA
While in India and back home, Andrea used the process of studying Bharata Natyam as a lens through which she could observe latent tendencies and habitual patterns. Under the intensive conditions of four to five hours of classes each day, the rigor of her training, the practice of embodying divine energies portrayed in the dances, combined with her intention to evolve spiritually, unfolded the early stages of her sadhana (spiritual practice). Everything was under examination, as she burned through the fires of purification, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Soon after returning home from India, Andrea met and began working with renowned author and spiritual teacher 