Nadhi Thekkek

Dr. Nadhi Thekkek is a dancer, choreographer, and the Artistic Director of Nava Dance Theatre, a bharatanatyam dance company based in San Francisco (unceded lands of the Ohlone people). Nadhi uses the south Indian dance form to navigate place, identity, and politics through the lens of her lived experience as a child of immigrants and an unapologetic South Asian, diasporic woman. Her body of work connects contemporary histories to today, creating critical intersections of culturally specific art, diaspora, and storytelling, and reimagines how bharatanatyam can serve marginalized narratives that need to occupy space in the US right now. Her latest touring work “Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies” sources community interviews, historical texts, and poetry to explore the intersections of labor, agency, and belonging in our South Asian ancestry. 

Nadhi’s work has been supported through NEFA’s National Dance Project, National Endowment for the Arts, MAP Fund, California Arts Council, San Francisco Arts Commission, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, Center for Cultural Innovation, and others, as well as through residencies/performances with UMass Amherst Fine Arts Center, CounterPulse Performing Diaspora, CHIME with Margaret Jenkins, and ACT in San Francisco. She has performed in venues throughout the world including Scotiabank Dance Centre (Vancouver), La Mama Experimental Theatre Club (NYC), Dance Place (D.C.), and Southbank Center (London), Krishna Gana Sabha (Chennai), among others.

Some of Nadhi’s engagement initiatives include the Unrehearsed Artist Residency Program, a virtual program that funds and supports South Asian dance and movement artists who challenge the status quo through their work. She is one of the co-founders of Varnam Salon, a dance series highlighting traditional arts repertoire and local dance makers. As an educator, she teaches bharatanatyam classes for adults seeking to reconnect with their dance practice or explore the art form for the first time, creating a welcoming, judgment-free space for learning. Additionally, she works as a dancer, dramaturg, director, or mentor for mission-aligned collaborators and peers across many dance genres. Nadhi is on the board of the Western Arts Alliance (WAA) and serves as a co-chair of the WAA Hyphen + Asian Affinity Group. In addition to her work as an NDP Advisor, Nadhi is currently serving on the Zellerbach Family Foundation Community Arts Panel.

Nadhi has learned bharatanatyam from Guru Smt. Sundara Swaminathan (Kala Vandana Dance Company, San Jose) and Guru Smt. Padmini Chari (Nritya School of Dance, Houston). As of 2012, she has continued training under Guru Sri. A. Lakshmanaswamy (Chennai). 

www.nadhithekkek.com

photo by Divya Tharayanil

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