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.

$35 Per Person

Space is limited, and will be first come first serve! Please fill out the following form, and pay through venmo: @nadhek

Exploring our shared struggle with displacement through dance and visual art

Created by Nadhi Thekkek and Rupy C. Tut, Broken Seeds Still Grow is a dance and visual art production inspired by the real-life stories from the 1947 Partition Archive and recent South Asian American history. This creative inquiry sources poetry, eyewitness accounts, and current events to understand the current political climate while reflecting on what it means to belong somewhere. This work includes original music by GS Rajan.

The show is titled “Broken Seeds Still Grow” as a tribute to stories of ancestors who have faced displacement either through Partition or immigration but continued to be resilient and grow wherever they found home. These stories of displacement are crucial to preserve, understand, and share; they give us a glimpse into our individual pasts, while helping us understand our collective future.

This creation of this work was supported by the East Bay Fund for Artists through the East Bay Community Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Dancers' Group CA$H Grants, and crowd funders. This project is fiscally-sponsored by CounterPulse.

For more info and our press kit, visit Broken Seeds. 

Migrations – Nava Dance Theatre (In-Person)
Sunday, August 21, 2022 4pm – 5pm PDT

Nava Dance Theatre, currently under the direction of Dr. Nadhi Thekkek, is a bharatanatyam dance company based in San Francisco, California, which uses the south Indian dance form as a medium for artistic reflection and discovery. Moreover, the founders of Nava believe that bharatanatyam, while culturally-specific, is a modern medium that can be used to discover and understand both historic and contemporary themes.

In Migrations, Nava Dance Theatre examines homeland through personal accounts of South Asian migration stories. Inspired by the lived experience of South Asians who migrated to the US since the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, Nadhi and her collaborators ask if it is possible to fully separate ourselves from what we remember as home, or if that is what we want in the first place. The work questions the cost of the so-called American Dream at a time when stability feels further than ever.

Presented by IDIA: I Dance Hence I Am, a dance festival created by by Ganesh Vasudeva and Kavita Thirumalai.

Yerba Buena Gardens ChoreoFest highlights the spectacular strength, diversity and vibrancy of the Bay Area contemporary dance scene through a two-weekend mini festival of site-specific work. Curated by RAWdance’s Artistic Directors, the fifth annual YBG ChoreoFest features an array of distinguished local dance companies of extraordinary performances throughout the Gardens’ lawns and architecture.

More info at YBGFESTIVAL.ORG.

Program presented outdoors.
ASL interpretation will be provided for this event.
Performances will comply with all city-mandated recommendations for live, outdoor performances.

Rupy C. Tut and Nava Dance Theatre present Unbroken Silences, a live music, dance, and visual art immersion exploring the generational trauma associated with the 1947 Partition of British India. Partition is considered one of the largest mass migrations of the 20th century, creating over 15 million refugees and killing over a million people. Creators Nadhi and Rupy discuss the development of the work, inspired by the familial lived experience of Rupy's family, as well as other witness statements from survivors of Partition. This gallery presentation includes live music by cellist and composer Chris Evans, and artwork by Rupy C. Tut, and dance work by Nadhi Thekkek with company dancers Shruti Abhishek, Lalli Venkat, and Vertika Srivastava. 

🗓Thurs, Jan 27 1, 7-8:30 pm PST
📍Zoom
$20 (regular price)
or PWYC (Pay What You Can - for full time artists, students, teachers)
If price is a barrier to entry please indicate this in the registration link.

Zoom here we come! We will do adavus, combos, then some new choreography from the piece we just filmed. Very similar to our company rehearsals i.e. loads of fun. Join us!

This is for anyone who has experience with a South Asian dance form - many so-called classical forms would work but I also believe dancers with extensive Bollywood or folk experience would rock in this class.

🗓 Wed, Dec 1, 7-9 pm
📍 Paradise Dance Studio in Fremont
$30 (regular price)
$20 (discount for full time artists, students, teachers)
If price is a barrier to entry please indicate this in the registration link.
Masks and vaccinations required.

Fremont here we come! This two hour class is in person only. We will do adavus, combos, then some new choreography from the piece we just filmed. Very similar to our company rehearsals i.e. loads of fun. Join us!

This is for anyone who has experience with a South Asian dance form - many so-called classical forms would work but I also believe dancers with extensive Bollywood or folk experience would rock in this class.