Rajika Puri

🪔 About

Rajika Puri is an internationally acclaimed exponent of Indian classical dance, specializing in Bharatanatyam and Odissi. She received her early training in classical Indian dance and music from childhood. Her Bharatanatyam guru was Sikkil Guru Ramaswamy Pillai, and her Odissi training followed the Gurukul of Deba Prasad Das. Beyond Indian classical forms, Puri also studied Western music (voice and piano), American Modern Dance at the Graham and Cunningham studios in New York, and Flamenco. She holds an MA in 'The Anthropology of Human Movement' from New York University, specializing in how meaning is made through movements such as the hand gesture (hasta mudra) system of classical Indian theatre. Puri has performed internationally in solo recitals across Europe, the United States, Latin America, and India, including a command performance for the President of Mexico. She is known for her innovative cross-cultural explorations, notably "Flamenco Natyam," which blends Indian dance and music with flamenco, first presented at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 1998. Since 1986, after being cast as 'Narrator/the goddess Kali' in Julie Taymor's "The Transposed Heads" at Lincoln Center Theater, she developed a unique form of danced storytelling, which she calls 'Sutradhari Natyam,' where she intersperses an English narration with excerpts from dances, spoken rhythms, chants, and songs in Indian languages. Her company, Rajika Puri and Dancers, founded in 2005, creates thematic evening-length productions. Puri also lectures and writes on Indian dance, theatre, and culture, and has been active in Western theatre and films, including Mira Nair's "Mississippi Masala." She is a co-curator of the Indo-American Arts Council's Erasing Borders dance festival and a member of the Board at the World Music Institute. Awards & Honours: Legacy in Motion Honoree (2026).