Dances of India

Dances of India is delighted to be a fixture in the St. Louis community for over four decades now. Asha Prem, the Artistic Director of the company, won a 2020 St. Louis Regional Arts Commission Artist Fellowship and a St. Louis Visionary Award for Outstanding Teaching Artist in 2018. Her dedication to teaching is evident not simply in the number of years nor number of students she has taught since 1976--the year she and her late husband Dr. B.N. Premachandra began the company--but in the wide variety of students she has impacted. She has taught classical Indian dance to men & women, students from Chile to China, students from 5 years of age all the way to 60+. She currently has about 100 students; while most of them are Indian, she also has several American students and students from multicultural families. Over 80 students have completed a ten-year course and have graduated from the school.

In this way Dances of India serves not simply as an anchor to Indian culture for many Indians in the St. Louis community, but it also serves as an ambassador of Indian culture in its efforts to convey the beauty, depth and meaning of Indian stories, music, & art, to wider & underserved audiences in the St. Louis area. As an example of the latter, Dances of India has taught in dozens of schools in St. Louis City, including the Carr Square Afterschool Program, and at the Vaughn Center through the Urban League.
Additionally, Asha Prem is on the faculty of the Washington University Performing Arts Department.

Dances of India presents one professional performance every fall; these used to be held at Washington University's Edison Theatre but have been at the beautiful Skip Viragh Center for the Arts for the past six years. For every show the company creates one originally-scripted & narrated production that takes a traditional Indian tale into a new direction, making it relatable for contemporary non-Indian audiences. The company also collaborates with dance companies of different styles (e.g. Saint Louis Ballet, Viva Flamenco, etc.) to create brand new works of performing art that help to expand the vision & understanding of not just the audience members but the artists themselves. For our 43rd Annual (Virtual) Performance, please see: https://youtu.be/rucuO4qLNCM

Lastly, Dances of India created & sponsored the St. Louis Dance Festival for 19 years, which brought together a dazzling variety of dance styles in the region, including ballet, contemporary, Middle Eastern, jazz, Japanese, Chinese, flamenco, clogging, tap, classical Indian, among many other styles.