Leela Dance Collective Announces AAPI Heritage Month Events

Leela Dance Collective announces its full schedule of performances, community events, and online programming to celebrate Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. Based in Los Angeles, Leela Dance Collective is an internationally-touring kathak dance company that combines classical dance from North India with contemporary influences. This robust slate of dance and culture events will take place throughout Greater Los Angeles and online May 2-23, 2024.

May 2024 performance highlights include free Leela Dance Collective pop-up performances in Culver City, Venice, Santa Monica and the UCLA campus; Imagine India, a showcase performance by the Leela Youth Dance Company (Artistic Director Rukhmani Mehta); and workshops for UCLA students. Leela Dance Collective will also host Let’s Talk Kathak, a series of online conversations featuring kathak artists from Greater Los Angeles. Event details are below.

“We celebrate Indian-American culture and art every day, but Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month offers a special opportunity to connect with our Greater Los Angeles community. Leela Dance Collective, our artists, and our Youth Dance Company are so excited to welcome our loyal supporters and new audiences into the beautiful world of kathak dance,” shared Rukhmani Mehta, Co-Artistic Director of Leela Dance Collective. 

Leela Dance Collective was founded in 2016 by Rukhmani Mehta, Seibi Lee and Rachna Nivas, dedicated to preserving the traditions and technique of classical kathak dance while also sharing the art form with a wide audience of dance and music lovers. Leela began as a collective artistic experiment and has grown to encompass a touring company, youth company and training center, and The Leela Foundation, which is the only endowment fund dedicated to kathak dance and Hindustani music in the U.S. Through traditional works and cross-genre collaborations, Leela brings the richness and depth of classical kathak dance to diverse audiences across the U.S. and India. Notable original works include Encounters with Beauty, which combines traditional kathak dance with contemporary chamber music; SPEAK, a kathak-tap dance collaboration featuring Michelle Dorrance and Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards; and Son of the Wind, the story of India’s mythological hero, Hanuman, brought to life through dance-drama.

Click here for the entire Leela Dance Collective AAPI Heritage Month Event Schedule.

Leela Dance Collective; photo by Babita Sangeeta