Samanvita Kasthuri: Dancers Making Moves

Dive into the world of classical Indian dance, and hear how Samanvita is working to create more opportunities for fusion between her classical Indian dance training with contemporary, hip hop, and other styles. Samanvita Kasthuri is an emerging choreographer experimenting with the fusion of Indian classical dance styles with Hip-Hop, Contemporary, and many other genres of dance. Samanvita has been trained in Bharatanatyam and Kathak under Guru Prasanna Kasthuri, completing both her arangetrams when she was 15 and 14, respectively. She has also learnt Carnatic music under Guru Seema Kasthuri. Furthermore, she has experience in Contemporary through her dance minor program at Saint Louis University. Her work has been featured in many venues–in 2019 Samanvita won second place and the “I” Award at the Teen Talent Competition for a self-composed and choreographed piece called “Equal”, which focused on women’s rights. Additionally, as a sophomore in college, she was commissioned by Saint Louis University to choreograph and compose another piece, “Krtghna”, for the Saint Louis Literary Arts Award Ceremony in 2023. She premiered her choreographic work “What Do You Feel?” as her Senior Capstone project at Saint Louis University. This project sought to integrate “abhinaya” in fusion with other dance styles such as Contemporary and Hip-Hop, working collaboratively with student dance groups on Saint Louis University’s campus. She has had the privilege of presenting her work at the Battery Dance Festival and WaxWorks Showcase in New York, the St. Louis Contemporary Dance Festival, Festival of Nations, St. Louis Literary Arts Award Ceremony, and many more. She has also had the opportunity to perform internationally through Soorya Performing Arts, participating in dance dramas such as “Samarpan” a Saga of Indian Independence; Ayyappa; Ekalavya, and many more. She has performed at the Delhi International Arts Festival, Rasika Ranjini Sabha and Kartik Fine Arts in Chennai, Kalasankula Center for Indian Arts and Shantala Arts Academy in Bangalore. Follow @dancers.making.moves on Instagram and Facebook and learn more about the artists involved in this project at www.dancersmakingmoves.com.