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Antara Bhardwaj is one of the most dynamic kathak artists of this generation, whose panache and magnetism have dazzled audiences internationally. Antara began training in kathak at the age of nine with legendary kathak maestro, the late Pandit Chitresh Das. She went on to become a member of the world-renowned Chitresh Das Dance Company, a teacher for the Chhandam School of Kathak, and founded Antara Asthaayi Dance in 2016. Antara identifies herself as a kathaka (story-teller), her mediums being classical dance, filmmaking, and writing.
True to the essence of kathak, Antara’s work as a solo artist combines traditional approaches to her own unique, contemporary voice. Known for her vibrant musicality, she expertly cultivates the four elements essential to a kathak dancer: tayari (technique), layakari (ability to play with rhythm), khoobsurti (beauty), and nazaakat (delicacy of the beauty). In addition, she has been critically praised for her abhinaya and gat-bhao performances where she enacts all characters in a story. Notable performances include the International Kathak Festival (Chicago), Ethnic Dance Festival (SF Opera House), Disney’s REDCAT Theater (Los Angeles), the National Centre for Performing Arts (Mumbai), the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Scotland), and Kathak Kendra (India’s National Institute of Kathak Dance). Her one-woman show “Tale of a Kathaka” took first prize at the Maui Theater Fringe Festival 2014, and her solo at the Naari Festival in Kolkata was televised throughout India on the Doordarshan network. In 2019, Antara was honored as a Mosaic Silicon Valley Fellow for commitment to artistic excellence and strengthening community through multicultural arts. A lifelong student, Antara continues to develop her mastery of taal (rhythm) under the guidance of her taal guru, Pandit Sandeep Das, a Grammy-award winning tabla percussionist, with whom she tours regularly as a soloist. View her repertoire.
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Antara Asthaayi Dance brings together a group of talented artists, many of whom have trained under Antara. They have performed at the prestigious San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival (2018, 2019), and featured on TV Asia for their evening length work “Anokhi Ada.” In 2016, they collaborated with twelve traditional dance forms on a single stage for EnActe Arts’ dance-theater production of Jean Claude Carrier’s classic play “The Conference of the Birds”. Most recently, Antara Asthaayi Dance has teamed up with Mosaic America and Opera San Jose in their adaptation of Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” where Antara is cultural consultant, choreographer, and dancer.
Also a third generation filmmaker, Antara has worked as an assistant director to acclaimed filmmaker, Jagmohan Mundhra (Provoked, Shoot on Sight) and most recently as producer of award-winning Upaj: Improvise, which broadcasted nationally on PBS and screened in several festivals around the world. She continues to produce short dance films, bringing her passions of dance and film together.
A strong advocate for arts education, Antara has taught master classes at several universities, including UC Santa Cruz, San Francisco State University, and Butler University. She currently mentors over twenty-five young girls and women in the art form of kathak. Learn more about the classes at Antara Asthaayi Dance.