“A glowing addition to the city’s mix …so sultry and lush is the dance, so intense the focus, so tropical the ambience” - Village Voice, Elizabeth Zimmer

Widely acclaimed, Nayikas is New York's first resident Indian Odissi dance theater company; one of the only classical, contemporary and progressive dance ensembles in the South Asian Diaspora. Nayikas modernizes comprehension of the aesthetics of Odissi, India’s oldest classical dance form, dating back to 2nd Century B.C. Creating potent and theatrical dance pieces, the Nayikas tell stories that both privilege and resurrects often neglected, alternate voices of women, drawing from feminist iconography in Indian mythology, history and Diaspora. Thus preserving the essential spiritual core of the dance form while envisioning gender equality & promoting diversity of imagination in the often-patriarchal religiosity of these traditions. (www.nayikas.org)

The Indo-American Arts Council is dedicated to promoting and building an awareness of all artistic disciplines in classical, fusion, folk and innovative forms influenced by the arts of India. We work cooperatively with colleagues both in the United States and in India, to showcase and facilitate the exhibition, performance & production of their work in the US, to broaden our collective audiences, and to create a network for shared information and resources. ()

Rubin Museum of Art is New York's newest museum. Opened on October 2nd, 2004, it is the first museum in the Western World dedicated to the art of the Himalayas and surrounding regions. The museum's mission is to establish, present, preserve and document a permanent collection that reflects the vitality, complexity and historical significance of Himalayan art. The museum also seeks to create an environment in which a dynamic between the performing and the visual arts can bring about a dialogue that enriches both exhibition visitor and theater audience. (www.rmanyc.org)