The California Arts Council has announced a grant award of $23,147 to Nava Dance Theatre as part of its Impact Project program during its 2024-25 fiscal year grant cycle. Support awarded will continue to benefit communities throughout the state until the end of the project cycle timeline in September 2025.

“The form seems more readily suited to channel the grander epic/legend/myth. Everyday life and experiences seem to demand a dismantling of very formal structures and yet Nadhi and her dancers managed to override my initial skepticism with their continuous montage of many scenes and high energy dancing.”

- Anita Ratnam

Thrilled to share that we are a New Music USA Organization Fund awardee!

The elegance and posture maintained while performing fast-paced arm gestures, and rhythmic footwork was impressive, as was the control required to balance in poses.

Nava Dance Theatre has gracefully married tradition with modernity, allowing for the exploration of modern themes to be appreciated across cultural divides.

Broken Seeds is well-researched and well-constructed. Thekkek and Tut studied contemporary history, witness statements, interviews, documentaries, news reports and even poetry to ensure the work authentically conveys the lived experiences of both those alive at the time and their descendants.

Born out of a collaboration between Nadhi, a dancer, and Rupy a visual artist, and a shared passion for telling our stories – Broken seeds still grow, is a symphony of dance, paintings, music, calligraphy, music, song, prose and poetry. Rupy’s empathetic narration is accompanied by her stunning visuals, which provide the perfect context to the mesmerizing and energetic dance performances by Nadhi and her team.

Nava’s latest work, “Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies,” is inspired by Thekkek’s mother, who moved to the U.S. as an unmarried nurse in 1978, and remained working even after agreeing to an arranged marriage and having children. Thekkek traces this story back to the 1965 Immigration Act, which ended many racially discriminatory practices and opened an era of Indian immigration — including Indian women who came alone to work jobs in health care

All the interaction is portrayed by facial expressions and gestures. Kumar’s many faces are absolutely priceless as she tries to maintain a sense of humor and inner calm while her situation deteriorates. Sambamoorthi imbues every aspect of her role – her arm movements, her determined attempts to get her point across, and her thousand-yard stare – with a simmering intensity. Thekkek endows her character with unexpected poise throughout an understatedly harrowing solo.

Founded by Margaret Jenkins and administered by the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, Choreographers in Mentorship Exchange (CHIME) is a mentorship program for professional choreographers. Participants receive significant support over one year to establish and explore a working relationship that includes, but is not limited to, work in the studio.

Founder Margaret Jenkins is serving as the CHIME mentor, working with three local choreographers over the course of the year.  

Awardees include randy e. reyes, Jesse Bie, and Nadhi Thekkek

For as long as she remembers, Nadhi Thekkek has been dancing and performing. An accomplished Bharatanatyam dancer, Thekkek is the artistic director of San Francisco-based Nava Dance Theatre. She uses the classical South Indian dance form as a mode of expression as well as a respite from the troubles around the world.

In a wide-ranging interview with the American Bazaar, Thekkek speaks about her dance career, Bharatanatyam and its relevance in America today.

Watch Interview with Artistic Director of Nava Dance Theatre Nadhi Thekkek and Oakland-based artist Rupy C. Tut talk to Bay Sunday host Kenny Choi about ‘Broken Seeds Still Grow.’

“Broken Seeds (Still Grow)” harnesses the storytelling powers of the classical Indian arts of Bharatanatyam dance, miniature painting and calligraphy to examine the 1947 British partition of India. Nava Dance Theatre, under the direction of choreographer Nadhi Thekkek, joins visual artist Rupy C. Tut for the mixed-media show premiering Thursday, Nov. 16, at the Flight Deck in Oakland.

Over the years, Rupy C. Tut gradually pieced together details of her grandparents’ past lives. The older the Oakland painter got, the more she asked them — of their home in what was then British India, and of what would come to drag them from it.

Split with a hammer or sharp blade the exterior of a tiny seed, the earliest origins of life are on view. A microscope allows deeper inspection of individual membranes and cells. Even so, there is mystery in the plant that grows when a seed is pushed into soil. There is magic in the flowers, fruits, and other offspring produced. Given soil, water, and sunlight, even a broken seed grows.

Editor’s Note: 70 years ago, the 1947 Partition of British India resulted in the formation of present day India and Pakistan, causing one of the largest displacements in recent South Asian history. Almost 15 million individuals were displaced and more than one million lost their lives coping with the tragic communal violence that occurred in the months before and during August, 1947.