Joanna De Souza

🪔 About

Joanna De Souza is a Canadian Kathak choreographer, dancer, and teacher, born on October 22, 1955, in Whitby, Ontario. Her lifelong study of Kathak began in 1978 under the late Pandit Chitresh Das in California, where she received traditional one-on-one guru-shishya parampara training. From 1981 to 1985, she was a member of the Chitresh Das Dance Company. With funding from the Canada Council for the Arts, De Souza lived in Kolkata, India, from 1985 to 1987. During this period, she studied under dance scholar Nrityacharya Prohlad Das, Pandit Chitresh Das's father, and earned her Master's degree in Kathak through the Prayag Sangit Samiti, achieving the top rank across India. She also pursued studies in sarangi with Pt. Ramnath Misra. Upon her return to Canada in 1987, De Souza began teaching Kathak, initially through the University of Toronto's Athletic Department. In 1988, she co-founded M-DO/KathakToronto in Toronto, an institution that has been a leading Canadian arts organization for Kathak dance since 1991. She also established the Chhandam Dance Company in 2003, which focuses on creating innovative Kathak works that respect tradition while embracing a present-day sensibility. De Souza is recognized internationally as a dancer, choreographer, and teacher, leading the artistic direction of M-DO/KathakToronto and teaching across Canada, the US, and India. Her performances have taken her to international arts festivals in Canada, India, Pakistan, and Cuba. She was a musician and dancer with the acclaimed Toronto Tabla Ensemble from 1993 to 2012. Her contributions to Kathak have earned her accolades, including Angikam's Dr. Maya Rao Award for innovative choreography in 2015, and two Dora Award nominations. In 2018, she toured India with "BARDO," a collaborative work with contemporary dancer Misty Wensel and the Chhandam Dance Company. India Today magazine has named her one of the "leading Indian classical dancers in Canada". Awards & Honours: Dr. Maya Rao Award (2015), Dora Award.