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Rachna Nivas is one of the foremost kathak artists in the United States—a choreographer, performer, educator, and cultural catalyst devoted to upholding the authenticity of North Indian classical art while advancing its modernity. Known for her commanding presence, rhythmic precision, storytelling, playfulness, and athleticism, she brings to the stage a rare combination of power, intellect, beauty, and joy, called by critics “revelatory,” “charismatic,” and “radiating power and grace.”
After over two decades of rigorous training under legendary kathak master Pandit Chitresh Das and rising to principal dancer in his acclaimed company, today Rachna is a radical traditionalist - preserving the integrity of her roots while interrogating Eurocentric and patriarchal paradigms through the lens of ancient Eastern philosophy, feminine consciousness, and embodied ancestral intelligence. Her choreography spans both her independent body of solo work and her Co-Artistic Directorship of Leela Dance Collective creating large-scale productions and cross-genre collaborations.
Rachna has completed artist residencies at Works and Process, Harkness Dance Center at 92nd Street Y, and CUNY Dance Initiate. In 2026, she is curating a day-long festival of Indian classical dance and music in cross-genre dialogue, What Flows Between Us at 92NY. She was also Dance Research Fellow at New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, which seeded her acclaimed solo work Reclaiming the Divine Feminine—an embodiment of the tantric Goddess Kali’s uncontainable and paradoxical feminine energy. Her additional works include Unedited - a solo displaying dynamic improvised interplay with live musicians ; SPEAK - a cross-genre collaboration with tap luminaires Michelle Dorrance and Dormeshia; and Son of the Wind - a large scale dance drama based on the epic Ramayana.
Her performances have appeared at major venues including New York Live Arts, 92NY, Broad Stage, Ford Theaters, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Mumbai’s Royal Opera House, and Kimmel Center, with support from NEA, New Music USA, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Harkness Foundation, and NYSCA.
As founder of The Kathak Legacy Project, Nivas is cultivating a training ecosystem that keeps kathak a living force of cultural power, spiritual grounding, community convergence and artistic excellence—igniting diasporic pride and ownership and anchoring future generations in lineage and purpose. She has also taught in numerous educational residencies across the country, sharing the universality of kathak to people of all backgrounds - most recently at Verdon/Fosse Legacy, Kupferberg Center for the Arts, and Queensborough Community College.
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