Dances of India--A Little History
In 1976 there was not much knowledge of India in St. Louis. So Dr. Prem, a research scientist in the field of endocrinology, and his wife Asha, a Bharata Natyam dancer, decided to create a classical Indian dance company and call it Dances of India, to make it very clear as to the origin of their performing art form and to distinguish it from Native American art.
They gave their first performance in 1976, sponsored by the brand-new India Association of St. Louis. In 1977, Dr. Prem took a leap of faith and sponsored the company's first performance himself. In 1988 he incorporated Dances of India into a nonprofit 501 (c)3 entity.
He never could've imagined that Dances of India would not simply be celebrating its 47th season in 2024-2025, but that the company would present virtual performances during the global pandemic of 2020!
Above: Left to Right, Theckla Mehta, Asha Prem, and Leena Singh, sometime in the 1980's.
The St. Louis Dance Festival. This dynamic event, sponsored by Dances of India, brought dancers from all around town together and ran from 2000-2018.
Dances of India's founder, Dr. Prem, never could sit still. He also loved music and dance, from all over the world, for he knew it gave people a kind of joy unlike anything else. And so, at an age when most people start thinking of retiring, Dr. Prem began the St. Louis Dance Festival. Up to 30 companies of all disciplines performed at Washington University's Edison Theatre, including St. Louis Ballet, MADCO, Leverage Dance Company, Dimensions Dance Theatre, Aalim Middle Eastern Dance, the St. Louis Strutters, Viva Flamenco, Carmen Dence (Colombian), and many, many other dancers of a dazzling variety of kinds. He wanted St. Louis to know that dance was Alive and Kicking right here in town!
Our Annual Performances
Every year since 1976 we have presented one performance every autumn. In 2006, we began creating originally-scripted dance theatre productions which meld Western classics with Indian music (such as Devi of the Ashes, or Cinderella in India), Indian myths to Western music (such as Rhapsody for the Blue Gods, the stories of Rama and Krishna to Gershwin's An American in Paris and Rhapsody in Blue), among many other creative works.
We are very grateful to the Missouri Arts Council and the St. Louis Regional Arts Commission for supporting our work for decades.
A List of our Original Productions:
2006: Rhapsody for the Blue Gods--tales of Krishna & Rama set to Gershwin's music!
2007: Narasimha (Not our own production.)
2008: Akbar's Magic Trunk --a tale set in Emperor Akbar's court.
2009: The Little Rani (Based on the novel the Little Princess)
2010: The Songs of Scherezade
2011: The Magic Grove
2012: The Birth of Nataraja (Not our own production.)
2013: Secrets from the Indian Storybook
2014: A Nutcracker Like No Other
2015: Incandescent: The Luminous Love-Story of the Sun
2016: The Music of Water--Tales Along India's Sacred Rivers
2017: Devi of the Ashes, or Cinderella in India
2018: The Tale of Urmila, the Sleeping Princess.
2019: You Are My True Reflection: The Secret Letters of Radha & Krishna
2020: None/Virtual Show Only!
2021: The Seven Sisters: a Tale of Deceit, Betrayal, & Star-Crossed Lovers.
2022: River Goddess: Tales of Love & Other Shenanigans Along the River Ganges.
2023: The Wondrous Legend of Diwali: The Festival of Lights!
Please scroll down to see some video clips!
We are very grateful to the Missouri Arts Council for supporting all of our work for decades. We pledge to provide a safe experience for our live shows.
Our Missouri ArtSafe Pledge
1. Facial coverings:
Staff and audience will wear facial coverings. We will provide a mask to those who do not have one.
2. Social distancing:
Patron groups will be seated six feet away from others. The Skip Viragh Center for the Arts allows ample room for distancing. Additional dressing room space will be utilized.
3. Health checks:
We will take temperature checks of all dancers, technical staff, and audience members.
4. Contact tracing:
We will collect patron names and contact information for contact tracing.
5. Contactless experience:
We will encourage online sales and have open doors to minimize physical contact.
6. Reduced capacity
:
We will reduce numbers of performers and audiences at performances to ensure social distancing.
7. Enhanced sanitation:
We will provide sanitizer at multiple stations to encourage personal hygiene.
Training
We will provide video training to all performers and frontline staff and volunteers.
GRADUATES OF THE SCHOOL OF DANCES OF INDIA.
How long does it take to graduate from our school? Well it depends on how much you practice! On average, it takes between 7-10 years. When a student completes a course of study, he or she will give a solo full-length performance.
1. 1983—Kavita Polineni
2. 1986—Renuka Vajrakarur
3. 1991—Ila Tailor
4,5,6,7: 1992—Manokiran Buddhiraju,
Jyotsna Sridharan,
Priya Rajagopalan,
Gayathri Iyer
8.1993—Ushashri Ayyagari
9. 1995—Malabika Ghosh
10, 11, 12. 1995---Sneha Sastry,
Leena Sastry,
Priya Sateesha
13. 1997—Radhika Tripuraneni
14. 1997—Kinnari Patel
15. 1998—Shilpa Abhayankar
16. 1998—Pooja Patel
17.1998—Pooja Natesan
18. 1998---Amisha Shah
19.1999—Tara Chandrashekhar
20. 1999—Poornima Devanahalli
21 & 22:2000—Shreeja & Sheeja Natesan
23 & 24: 2001—Varsha Keelara
& Ritu Chouhan
25. 2001—Fameedah Jamal
26 & 27: 2002—Amulya Upadhaya
Meghana Roy
28, 29, 30: 2002—Indu Chandreshekhar,
Rajini Chandreshekhar,
Atasi Satpathy
31. 2003—Pallavi Chandak
32 & 33: 2004—Supriya Shah &
Priya Patel
34: 2004—Vaishnavi Hariprasad
35 & 36: 2004—Niketa Patel & Pooja Patel
37. 2004—Aparna Kalyanaraman
38. 2005—Sucheta Thekkadam
39. 2005—Meghana Srinath
40. 2006—Niyanta Gopal
41, 42, 43: 2007—Rokaya Helfer,
Sangitha Sharma,
Adithi Vellore
44. 2007—Resha Desai
45. 2008—Rupsha Ghosh
46. 2008—Radhika Jain
47. 2008—Shamaita Mazumdar
48. 2009—Rashmi Madhavan
49. 2009—Aanshi Sanghvi
50. 2009—Nevetha Mathialagan
51. 2009—Nishika Muddasani
52. 2009—Poonam Sheevam
53. 2009—Sumidha Katti
54. 2010—Trisha Bhat
55. 2010—Shivi Yadava
56, 57: 2011—Tanvi Subramanian &
Tejasvi Subramanian
58. 2011—Devina Julee Ankalesaria
59 & 60: 2011—Lakshmi Dundoo
& Vasavi Rao
61. 2011—Meera Patel
62. 2012—Trishna Limaye
63. 2012---Puja Patel
64. 2012—Selina Swaminathan
65 & 66: 2012—Anusha Cherupalla &
Swathi Iyanar
67. 2013—Samiksha Mailarpwar
68. 2013—Lakshmi Subraja
69. 2013—Juhi Nayak
70. 2013—Ashleysha Pujari
71. 2013—Kavita Patwardhan
72. 2013—Rasika Sant
73. 2014—Jessica Doshi
74. 2014—Neesha Deshmukh
75. 2014—Rushali Malatkar
76. 2014—Prapti Patel
77 & 78: 2014—Deepa Arun
& Meena Sharma
79. 2015—Nisha Rao
80. 2016—Oishi Paul
81. 2016—Sannitha Barragada
82. 2016—Monica Rao
83. 2017—Mitali Sharma
84. 2017—Hope Gregory
85. 2017—Isheeta Khurana
86. 2017—Sita Ramaswamy
87. 2017—Pournika Muniyandi
88. 2017—Shirsha Mazumdar
89. 2018---Nandini Jain
90. 2019—Shalini Yagnik
91. 2019—Gayatri Rampilla
92. 2019—Keerti Ivaturi
93. 2019—Malavika Kumaran
94. 2019—Shrinithi Karthikeyan
95, 96: 2021--Diya & Ovya Diwakaran
97. 2021--Soumya Rao
98. 2021--Aranya Ajith
99. 2021--Neha Shahrawat
100. 2022--Sahithya Gokaraju
101. 2022--Meghana Kommu
102. 2022- Varsha Arun
103 & 104--Sia & Saisha Bhutani
105.-- ---- Yamini Jyoshna Kothala
106. Kareena Kanumury
107. Shivani Iyanar
108. Ishani Gutta
109. Anokhi Desai
110. Prashu Sidella
Graduates of Dances of India from 1983-the present.
Watch our Videos!
Here are clips of some of Dances of India's past productions: Videographer, Mark Silverman