The Sa Dance Company

The Sa Dance Company

An Indian American Dance Experience.

The Sa Dance Company is a contemporary Indian dance company founded in 2008 with the mission of bringing awareness of Indian dance and culture to a wider and more diverse audience. All Sa Dance Company dancers have been trained in various forms of Western and Indian dance, including Kathak, Bharatnatyam, Odissi, Kuchipudi, Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, Bhangra and Garba. Sa creates dance experiences that evoke a viewer’s own emotions through grace and expression in combination with layered choreography and intricate formations.

The name “Sa” itself originates in the foundations of Indian classical music, in which “Sa” is both the first and last note of the octave. Similarly, the company’s creative process takes the dances and stories that have been passed down over generations and infuses them with the dancers’ experiences of today to create new, yet familiar, performances for current and future generations.

All major classical Indian dance forms include in repertoire, three categories of performance: Nritta which is an abstract, fast and rhythmic aspect of the dance, Nritya which is the slower and expressive aspect that attempts to communicate feelings, storyline, and Natyam which is a play, typically seen as a team performance. While all are incorporated in Sa’s work, the company's work emphasizes emotional connection grounded in Nritya and Natya.

The company has performed at notable venues and dance festivals, such as The White House, Lincoln Center, The Ailey Citigroup Theater, Peabody Essex Museum, Wallis Annenberg Center of the Performing Arts, MAD museum, Battery Downtown Dance Festival, and more.

Repertory: 

RISE

 A work in four movements that progresses through the life journey of an Indian woman; it encompasses the joyous aspirations of her youth, the tensions created by the expectations of society and the limitations of her circumstances, the strength she needs to recover from physical and emotional toll, and ultimately the hope that reemerges from channeling love, community, and compassion in a new direction.

RISE is a love letter to the grandmothers, aunties, and mothers who, with unwavering determination and limitless generosity, continue to show the way and empower each new generation of women to nourish and perpetuate the remarkable bond of sisterhood that unites them.

"...they danced with irresistible good humor and high energy...breathtakingly pretty with combined stamina, skill, and wonderful glee." 

-Alastair Macaulay, The New York Times

"With grace and elegance, and rhythms old and new...The Sa Dance Company embodied the story of America and the very spirit of the biggest Diwali reception ever hosted at the White House"

-President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden