Welcome to Dances of India in St. Louis
We are a *2025 & a 2023 National Endowment for the Arts Award Recipient* & one of the oldest classical Indian dance companies in the United States. 2024-2025 is our 47th Season!
From our 47th Annual Performance: Please click HERE to see a clip of Dreams of the Dark Prince, our original dance-theater production and HERE to see a clip of the Classical Dances.
Please click HERE to see the full experimental piece to the aria O Mio Babbino Caro.
PLEASE CLICK HERE for a Nine PBS documentary on us from Living St. Louis which aired on 11/06/23!
"What an amazing community of people and artists you have built all these years."--
David Marchant, Professor of the Practice
, Washington University
"The show was fantastic. I learned a lot & enjoyed the music, movement, and vibe!" --Vanessa Cooksey, Executive Director, St. Louis Regional Arts Commission.
**Dances of India, a nonprofit 501 (c)3 organization, follows state and federal laws that prohibit discrimination based on disability. We are committed to assuring that we include people with disabilities in all aspects of programming, services, and activities.**
All photos courtesy of Mike Oransky
Video courtesy of Mark Silverman
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO LEARN ABOUT US AND OUR PROGRAMMING.
We are honored to be recognized by the NEA for our programming & outreach in St. Louis for nearly 5 decades!
For our 47th Annual Performance, we presented an originally-scripted, fully narrated dance-theater production: DREAMS OF THE DARK PRINCE--the Tale of Duryodhana, from the Indian epic The Mahabharata.
*PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE A CLIP*
*AND: This was the Premiere of The Mahabharata in St. Louis for general audiences!*
What is the Mahabharata? Please Click Here for a brief description!
We were delighted to have local Shakespearan actor Isaiah Di Lorenzo play the role of Prince Duryodhana and local choreographer and dancer Thomas Proctor play Prince Bhima. Script by Nartana Premachandra, President of Dances of India & Story Editor of NY-based international journal Parabola.
Nartana.Substack.Com
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We were also DELIGHTED to have SANJAY SHANTARAM, Artistic Director of ShivaPriya School of Dance in Bengaluru India, perform, along with KIRAN RAJAGOPALAN, professional classical Indian dancer based in Chicago but from STL!
Our Guest Artists for our 47th Annual Production: Sanjay, Kiran, Isaiah, and Thomas!
Please learn about our guest artists below!
Sanjay Shantaram,
Artistic Director, ShivaPriya School of Dance, Bengaluru, India
Kiran Rajagopalan,
Professional Classical Indian Dancer & Executive Director, KalaPriya, in Chicago.
Isaiah Di Lorenzo, Professional St. Louis-based Actor, Most Recently in Shakespeare Touring Co's The Tempest,
as Prince Duryodhana.
Thomas Proctor, Local Professional Dancer & Choreographer, as Prince Bhima.
Dances of India is headed by Artistic Director Asha Prem: A 2020 St. Louis Regional Arts Commission Artist Fellow and a 2018 St. Louis Visionary Arts Award Winner for Outstanding Teaching Artist. She also taught at Washington University for 20+ years.
*PLEASE CLICK ON THE PHOTO ABOVE TO SEE OUR 43RD ANNUAL {VIRTUAL} PERFORMANCE.*
Nartana Premachandra, her daughter and President of Dances of India, is a March 2021 Missouri Arts Council Featured Artist. She is also Story Editor for the NYC-based journal Parabola. She has retold myths and written on history & philosophy for the renowned journal of philosophy, literature, and myth. She dances, along with writing and narrating Dances of India's original productions. Learn more about her here: NartanaPremachandra.com Nartana.Substack.Com
Theckla Mehta, Asha Prem's very first student, choreographs Dances of India's original dance-theatre productions. She works with Nartana on finding/editing music, along with creating original costumes, sets, and artwork for these unique, never-before-seen creations.
Dr. B.N. Premachandra--Asha's husband and Nartana's dad--the late founder of Dances of India, was as instrumental as Asha in introducing classical Indian dance to St. Louis in 1976.
Please click below to read a history of the company!
And please scroll below to see photos of the Dances of India crew and dancers!
Enter the graceful, rhythmic, world of Bharata Natyam.
Dances of India has been teaching Bharata Natyam, the most prevalent style of classical Indian dance, to dancers in St. Louis for over 40 years!
Please scroll down to learn more about us!
LEARN MORE ABOUT WHAT WE DO & WE WILL CREATE A SHOW FOR YOU!
PROGRAMMING
Since 1976 Dances of India's mission has been to reach and teach St. Louis and surrounding communities about the rich art, dance, and culture of India.
We give performances in schools, housing projects, libraries, corporations, universities, museums (Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri History Museum, Contemporary Art Museum), organizations of all kinds, such as the Urban League, Missouri Botanical Gardens, Buddhist temples, Christian churches, the Magic House, Maryland Heights Community Center, among many others.
*Please click on the photo at right for a glimpse of a Dances of India school performance.*
From Jose Garza, Museum Educator @ the Contemporary Art Museum:
In a time when arts education is consistently underfunded and underrepresented in the public at large, Dances of India proves to be a crucial cultural institution in our community. Your beautiful art and commitment is reflected in the joy of your program attendees and the quality of your programming writ large.
Learn more about what we do:
Here's a little instruction I, Nartana Premachandra, gave on Fox 2's Studio STL 11/15/21! Please click on the photo below to watch.
Please find me on TikTok: @nartanap and on my website, NartanaPremachandra.com
Reviews
From Lyda Krewson, former Mayor of St. Louis:
Congratulations on being presented with the prestigious 2018 Saint Louis Visionary Award in the category of Outstanding Teaching Artist! I cannot think of anyone more deserving of this award than you. You have made a strong impact on the St. Louis community by providing accessible instruction of Indian culture and dance to a wide range of students, impacting the lives of countless individuals.
From 2016 Missouri Arts Council Review Panel:
Master dancer Asha Prem is a tremendous force in Indian dance...Dances of India have excellent involvement with a diversity of community program offerings as well as diverse audience participation. Well regarded in the St. Louis area with corporate and local business support.
The Dances of India Family
Meet the personalities of Dances of India!
Theckla Mehta (on the right, in a chariot she handmade for 2017 Devi of the Ashes). Artist/Choreographer for Dances of India Original Theatrical Productions.
*Please click on photo to take you to an audio description written & narrated by Nartana Premachandra for this statue from the Saint Louis Art Museum.* This is a photo of Nataraja, or Shiva, the Lord of Dance. We teach the most prevalent style of classical Indian dance, called Bharata Natyam. It has its foundations in a text called The Natya Shastra, which is around 2,000 years old, give or take a few centuries. Of course the style has evolved quite a bit since then, but the basic elements, such as the hand gestures, foot poses, body gestures, etc are the same. Photo: Saint Louis Art Museum
Gallery
Have a look to see what we do! Here's a small sample of dancers over the years. Frequent Guest Artists: Patrick Suzeau (top middle), Kiran Rajagopalan (left in third & fourth row), Sanjay Shantaram (middle, third row). Photos: Mike Oransky