Indian Dance Showcase

Saturday, October 12, 2024 at 3:00pm
World Music Hall

Free admission.

Wesleyan students, faculty, and staff can RSVP on WesNest.

Connecticut-based choreographers Sarada Nori and Rachna Agrawal will be joined by Wesleyan students Akhil Joondeph '26 and Tanvi Navile '25 to showcase short performances from a range of different classical dance styles, including North Indian Kathak, South Indian Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam, and Odissi from Eastern India. The performance will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Hari Krishnan, Professor of Dance, Global South Asian Studies, and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

Rachna Agrawal runs the Sumbhaav School, which teaches North Indian Kathak Dance in Hartford, Norwalk, Newington, and Stamford, Connecticut. She is Artistic Director for the Sumbhaav Dance Project and the Rasa Dance Project, and is a visiting lecturer at Trinity College in Hartford. She has been a State of Connecticut Commission on the Arts “Master Teaching Artist” since 1993.

Akhil Joondeph '26, a double major in Anthropology and Dance, has trained in the Odissi dance style of Eastern India, other indigenous South Asian dance forms, and various disciplines including contemporary, modern, West African, and hip hop dance. 

Tanvi Navile '25, a double major in Psychology and Sociology, previously performed the South Indian dance form Bharatanatyam as part of the staged reading of “The Elephant Is Very Like” in the Theater Department Studio in February 2024. 

Sarada Nori has performed the South Indian Kuchipudi dance style for over two decades, and is the Founder and Artistic Director of Layavinyasa company in Glastonbury, Connecticut. Kuchipudi combines ritual dances, courtly dance repertoire, and theatrical dance drama to embody stories from ancient Hindu scripture.

This event is part of the 48th annual Navaratri Festival at Wesleyan.