Upcoming Events
AAPI Heritage Month Performance
Nava Dance is excited to join Gateway High School for their AAPI Heritage Month celebration!
Rhythm & Gestures All-Levels Bharatanatyam Class
Weekly Rhythm & Gestures: All Levels Bharatanatyam class
Use bharatanatyam inspired technique, music, and narrative building to inform your creative process and find new ways to move! Class will include working with live music, how to bring subtext and story into movement, and looking at both rhythm and gesture from a creative lens. We teach a short phrase to popular music to help us dig deeper into all of these perspectives.
Mondays from 7:30pm-9:00pm at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley
Running through May 25th. Prior experience not required. All classes are drop-in!
Varnam Salon
Join us Sunday, May 31st in San Francisco!
What can a varnam be? It can show love and devotion; it can be a carnatic opening piece and a memorable pallavi; something to explore on a solo journey or with fellow artists.
We are thrilled to feature a lineup that represents such a beautiful range of voices and movement! This year’s Varnam Salon is a partnership with Young Arts - we hope you can join us!
✨Presenting our 2026 Artists ✨
💃🏽 Sunidhi Gurudutt
💃🏽 Swathi Ramesh
👯♀️ Ishami Dance Company ft. choreography by Akhil Joondeph
🎶 Roopa Mahadevan
YoungArts Alumni are welcome to attend this event free of charge- we are excited to be in community with you!
SFMOMA Art Bash
Prepare for an unforgettable evening at one of San Francisco’s most anticipated celebrations of art and artists! SFMOMA invites you to join us at our signature fundraising event that transforms our iconic museum into an immersive playground of creativity and community.
Nava will be performing in visual artist Rupy C Tut’s activation in the space. Rupy and Nadhi first collaborated on Broken Seeds Still Grow, and we’ll be bringing back excerpts of that work as a part of the evening. Hope to see you there!
AAPI Heritage Month Performance
Nava is excited to perform an excerpt of Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies for community members at Peralta College in celebration of AAPI Heritage month!
Dancing in the Park
Join Nava Dance at Mark Foehringer Dance Project’s Dancing in the Park SF on Saturday, April 25th from 2pm-5pm. Nava is excited to present excerpts of Rogue Gestures at this family-friendly outdoors event. No tickets required!
Nritya Darpan 2026
Nritya Darpan 2026 – Where Movement Becomes Story
Nritya Darpan is an annual dance festival bringing together dance makers from across the country. From stories of immigration, a famous white whale, desert myths and more, Nritya Darpan shares the wildly different ways Indian dance is explored and experimented with to tell both beautiful and necessary stories!
Join us on Saturday, April 11th to witness work by:
✨ Aishwarya Madhav (New York)
✨ IMGE (New Jersey/New York)
✨ Kasi Aysola (DC)
✨ Nava Dance Theatre (California)
✨ Maya Kulkarni featuring Deepa Mahadevan and Kaustavi Sarkar (New York, New Jersey, North Carolina)
Presented by Indian Heritage and Cultural Association. Curated by Maya Kulkarni.
Bharatanatyam(ish)
Use bharatanatyam inspired technique, music, and narrative building to inform your creative process and find new ways to move! Class will include working with music, how to bring subtext and story into movement, and looking at both rhythm and gesture from a creative lens. We teach a short phrase to popular music to bring it all together!
Rogue Gestures at Dance Mission
Save the Date!
Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies is coming back to the Bay Area as a pop-up performance following a highly successful, sold-out premiere in San Francisco. Catch the show at Dance Mission on Friday, March 13th with 5 dancers and a wonderful live ensemble of musicians.
Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies uses bharatanatyam and experimental movement to examine the labor of South Asian immigrant women who came to the US after the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act. Inspired by the oral histories of Indian nurses who immigrated to the US due to labor shortages, choreographer Nadhi Thekkek, and her collaborators explore the heavy and enduring work of brown women and the worlds they traverse between. They ask, who puts a price on this labor? What is the cost of opportunity? Who gets to decide how foreign we are? Through community interviews, historical texts, and poetry, Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies negotiates these questions and examines what it means to belong in America.
This work is supported by the New England Foundation for the Arts National Dance Project Grant, New Music USA, the East Bay Community Foundation Fund for Artists, MAP Fund, Zellerbach Family Foundation, San Francisco Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, the Center for Cultural Innovation. Earlier iterations of the work were funded by the Kenneth Rainin Foundation and commissioned by World Arts West.
Rogue Gestures at Dance Mission (PREVIEW PERFORMANCE)
Save the Date!
Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies is coming back to the Bay Area as a pop-up performance following a highly successful, sold-out premiere in San Francisco. Catch the show at Dance Mission on Friday, March 13th with 5 dancers and a wonderful live ensemble of musicians.
Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies uses bharatanatyam and experimental movement to examine the labor of South Asian immigrant women who came to the US after the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act. Inspired by the oral histories of Indian nurses who immigrated to the US due to labor shortages, choreographer Nadhi Thekkek, and her collaborators explore the heavy and enduring work of brown women and the worlds they traverse between. They ask, who puts a price on this labor? What is the cost of opportunity? Who gets to decide how foreign we are? Through community interviews, historical texts, and poetry, Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies negotiates these questions and examines what it means to belong in America.
This work is supported by the New England Foundation for the Arts National Dance Project Grant, New Music USA, the East Bay Community Foundation Fund for Artists, MAP Fund, Zellerbach Family Foundation, San Francisco Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, the Center for Cultural Innovation. Earlier iterations of the work were funded by the Kenneth Rainin Foundation and commissioned by World Arts West.
Rhythm & Gestures Workshop with Vanessa Sanchez
Nadhi and Vanessa Sanchez from La Mezcla SF teach a collaborative workshop exploring the percussive storytelling of both bharatanatyam (India) and Son Jarocho (Veracruz, Mexico). Join us as we dance and make music together in this All-Levels Adult class!
Rhythm & Gestures Workshop – New York
Join Nadhi in New York for a Rhythm & Gestures Class, culminating her time at APAP!
Use bharatanatyam inspired technique, music, and narrative building to inform your creative process and find new ways to move! Class will include working with live music, how to bring subtext and story into movement, and looking at both rhythm and gesture from a creative lens. We teach a short phrase to popular music to help us dig deeper into all of these perspectives.
8:00pm-9:30pm at Gibney 280, Studio G
Prior experience not required.
Rogue Gestures at APAP
Please join Nava Dance Theater at APAP in New York this January, courtesy of Asian American Arts Alliance (A4) and Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company. Nava’s ‘Rogue Gestures’ will be performed in the AAPI Dance Festival, an annual celebration of dance and choreography that highlights the artistry and innovation of choreographers of Asian descent, presented as part of the Dance Managers Collective’s APAP showcase at City Center and the Ailey Citigroup Theatre.
AAPI Dance Festival (Sunday)
Sunday, Jan 11, 2026
4:15–6:15 pm
Ailey Citigroup Theatre, 405 W 55th St, New York, NY 10019
Featured performances by:
Naomi Funaki (A4’s 2025 Jadin Wong Fellow)
Sun Kim Dance Theatre
Nava Dance Theatre
Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company
Tickets: $25 for each showcase, or $40 for a full festival pass.
The full festival pass includes access to both Saturday and Sunday showcases at Ailey Citigroup Theatre in addition to the Rising Stars showcase at City Center on Saturday, Jan 11 from 7–9 pm.
About the AAPI Dance Festival
The AAPI Dance Festival is an annual celebration of dance and choreography that highlights the artistry and innovation of choreographers of Asian descent, presented as part of the Dance Managers Collective’s APAP showcase at City Center and the Ailey Citigroup Theatre.
Organized by the Asian American Arts Alliance (A4) and Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, the festival features two showcases at Ailey Studios with performances by Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, A4’s Jadin Wong Fellow, and other acclaimed companies, as well as the Rising Stars showcase at City Center, spotlighting emerging choreographic talent.
The AAPI Dance Festival is made possible with support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York State Council on the Arts, and individual donors like you.
Rhythm & Gestures Workshop
Use bharatanatyam inspired technique, music, and narrative building to inform your creative process and find new ways to move! Class will include working with live music, how to bring subtext and story into movement, and looking at both rhythm and gesture from a creative lens. We teach a short phrase to popular music to help us dig deeper into all of these perspectives.
Rhythm & Gesture classes and workshops are generously subsidized by our venues, inviting organizations, and grant support.
Fees: Sliding scale with a starting fee of $5, and a suggested fee of $25
Sign up using the form below. Please pay the fee through zelle or paypal. Note the transaction number on the sign-up form OR email ankita@navadance.org a screenshot of the transaction before completing registration.
Zelle - info@navadance.org
Paypal - navadancetheatre@gmail.com
Email ankita@navadance.org for any questions!
Nava Dance Theatre is committed to making dance accessible for all. If the fees are a barrier to participate, please contact us.
As You Are – Houston Premiere
As You Are is a dance-theater work centering the stories of women, particularly from South Asian diaspora communities. Blending movement, text, and sound, the piece offers an intimate look at survival, agency, healing, and sisterhood without demanding resolution or resilience. Rooted in real narratives, it invites audiences to witness with compassion and hold space for complexity.
Produced by Shruti Abhishek Dance
Collaborators/Dancers: Nadhi Thekkek, Preethi Ramaprasad, Rasika Kumar, Shruti Abhishek, Sindhu Natarajan, Sri Thina Subramaniam, and Surabhi Bharadwaj.
Directed by Vaibhav Arekar
Bharatanatyam(ish)
November All-Levels Bharatanatyam(ish) with Ishami Dance’s Desi Dance Community!
$30 for class, fee waivers/discounts available if needed.
Rhythm & Gestures All-Levels Bharatanatyam Class
Weekly Rhythm & Gestures: All Levels Bharatanatyam class
Use bharatanatyam inspired technique, music, and narrative building to inform your creative process and find new ways to move! Class will include working with live music, how to bring subtext and story into movement, and looking at both rhythm and gesture from a creative lens. We teach a short phrase to popular music to help us dig deeper into all of these perspectives.
Mondays from 7:30pm-9:00pm at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley
Running through December 15th. Prior experience not required. All classes are drop-in!
Unrehearsed Artist Residency Program Applications Are Open!
Unrehearsed (Virtual) Artist Residency Program (URP) is an artist fund that supports the creation of new dance work by artists who have faced significant challenges in the South Asian dance industry. URP provides funds to center the strengths, experiences, and artistry from
Historic contributors to Indian art who are often not credited for their work or
South Asian identifying folks practicing and creating in art forms that lack structural and organizational support in the South Asian performing arts industry or
Those who have a history of using art to elevate awareness of urgent social justice issues.
$1500 and an additional production stipend* will be awarded to up to 6 artists to create a new dance work.
*Amount TBD; based on cost of production in country of residence
For additional guidelines about criteria for a strong application, please read through this document.
Preview the entire application here.
The application deadline is November 30, 2025 at 11:59PM PST (December 1, 2025 10:29 AM IST)
Donation-Based Class
In light of the ongoing genocide in Palestine, please consider donating to the Sameer Project. The Sameer Project is a Palestinian-run organization that works to supply aid to displaced families Gaza. Please join me in supporting families who are displaced as a direct result of US actions.
Those who donate any amount will receive a free class in person or via Zoom on Saturday, October 25th from 11am-12:30am PST. The in-person class is at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center.
Suggested donation is $25.
We begin with a warm up, fundamental adavus or foundational steps, learn a routine to popular music, and also do some abhinaya work rooted in gesture and improvisational storytelling. While some Indian dance experience would help, you do NOT need to be familiar with Indian forms to attend!
To receive a free class –
1. Click on this link to donate
2. Fill out this google form. Where noted, link your full donation receipt that includes the amount donated. The donation receipt will be emailed to you by Chuffed, the donation service. You do not need to tip Chuffed.
A class link will be sent out to all registrants by October 23rd.
While you're at it, check out Workshops 4 Gaza for more educational workshops run by writers, artists, and educators that raise money for Palestinians in Gaza.This may be just one small gesture – but I hope we all continue to cultivate space for hope, renewal, and awareness – with gestures big and small – during these troubling times.
Email ankita@navadance.org with any questions!
Nava Dance Theatre Auditions
We are seeking 3-4 bharatanatyam dancers to join the Nava Dance Theatre team as understudies for touring gigs and dancers for local performances.
To learn more and sign up for auditions, fill out the application form HERE. Applications are due September 23, 2025 at 11:59 PM PST.
Unrehearsed Residency Art Share - Day 2
Join us as the Unrehearsed Artist Residency cohort members share a snippet of the projects that they have been working on! Day 2
As You Are
As You Are is a dance-theater work centering the stories of women, particularly from South Asian diaspora communities. Blending movement, text, and sound, the piece offers an intimate look at survival, agency, healing, and sisterhood without demanding resolution or resilience.
Rooted in real narratives, it invites audiences to witness with compassion.
Produced by Shruti Abhishek Dance
Unrehearsed Residency Art Share - Day 1
Join us as the Unrehearsed Artist Residency cohort members share a snippet of the projects that they have been working on! Day 1
Rhythm & Gestures: An All Levels Bharatanatyam Workshop
Use bharatanatyam inspired technique, music, and narrative building to inform your creative process and find new ways to move! Class will include working with live music, how to bring subtext and story into movement, and looking at both rhythm and gesture from a creative lens. We teach a short phrase to unconventional music to help us dig deeper into all of these perspectives. Rohan Krishnamurthy will be joining us on percussion, and Roopa Mahadevan will be bringing her vocal stylings! We will be working with them to better understand and explore musicality through movement.
Broken Seeds Still Grow - Presented by Mondavi Center
Mondavi Center presents, Broken Seeds Still Grow, a multi-disciplinary dance and visual art production created by Nava Dance Theater and Rupy C. Tut that explores the continuing impact of the 1947 British-India Partition, one of the most formative events in South Asia’s recent history.
Bharatanatyam Weekly Classes (Beginner)
Beginner Bharatanatyam Classes, every Saturday starting February 1st from 2:30 to 4 PM at Shawl Anderson.
Bharatanatyam Classes
Intermediate/Advanced Bharatanatyam classes every Monday from 7:30 to 9:30pm at Shawl Anderson Dance Center.
Nava Dance in NYC : A Bharatanatyam Workshop by Nadhi Thekkek
Nava Dance is coming to New York City, and we would love to meet you!
Join us for a 2 hour class with Nadhi Thekkek as she takes you through a typical Nava Dance company rehearsal. We will do a warm up, adavus, combos, and then learn some Nava repertoire from Rogue Gestures!
This is for anyone who has experience with any South Asian dance form, including any so called classical forms, Bollywood, or folk.
$30 Per Person
Space is limited, and will be first come first serve! Please fill out the following form, and pay through venmo: @nadhek