Ria DasGupta

🪔 About

Ria DasGupta is an accomplished Kathak dancer, performer, and educator based in the United States. Her extensive dance background began with 14 years of training in classical ballet and modern dance at the Academy of Dance Arts in Red Bank, New Jersey. In the early 2000s, she was introduced to classical and Rabindrik Indian dance by Malabika Guha. She further expanded her repertoire by studying Bharatanatyam under Chitra Venkateswaran and capoeira with Contra Mestre Maranhão. DasGupta commenced her formal Kathak training in 2014 with Seibi Lee. A co-founder of the Kalamandir Dance Company (KDC) in 2009, DasGupta has performed internationally in Spain, India, and Bolivia, and extensively across the United States with KDC. She also co-choreographed two evening-length productions and several shorter pieces for the company, where she performed as a principal dancer. In 2017, she made her debut with the Leela Dance Collective in their inaugural production, "Son of the Wind," and is currently an ensemble dancer with the collective. She was also featured as an emerging Kathak dancer in Leela Dance Collective's "ReSound" repertoire. Ria DasGupta is a member of the teaching faculty at Leela Academy, contributing to the education of new generations of Kathak dancers. Beyond her dance career, she holds an EdD in International and Multicultural Education from the University of San Francisco and serves as the Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Initiatives at The Juilliard School.