Rukhmani Mehta

Co-Founder & Co-Artistic Director, Leela Dance Collective

Rukhmani Mehta is a kathak artist, choreographer, and educator working at the intersection of classical Indian dance, contemporary performance, and embodied inquiry. She approaches kathak as a living, evolving practice — one that bridges tradition and innovation while speaking powerfully to the present moment.

A senior disciple of the legendary kathak master Pandit Chitresh Das, Mehta is both lineage bearer and contemporary voice. She engages classical Indian dance as a dynamic system of rhythm, storytelling, and improvisation, capable of restoring connection to self, to community, and to the sacred. Her work spans traditional productions as well as cross-cultural collaborations that bring kathak into dialogue with other genres and artistic disciplines.

Mehta is Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Leela Dance Collective. Her original works include SPEAK, a kathak–tap collaboration; Son of the Wind, a dance drama based on the Indian epic Ramayana; and Encounters with Beauty, inspired by the poetry of India’s mystic poet-saints. Her solo work, Sandhi, re-centers the traditional kathak solo, foregrounding improvisation, narrative depth, and the exchange between dancer, musician, and audience. Her work has been presented nationally and internationally at venues including the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Mumbai), 92nd Street Y, The Broad Stage, NC State LIVE, and the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, among others.

Mehta is also the Artistic Director of Leela Youth Dance Company, a pre-professional ensemble dedicated to training and mentoring young South Asian women. Through her teaching, she cultivates not only technical rigor and lineage literacy, but also the development of voice, confidence, and embodied self-knowledge.

Prior to founding Leela, Mehta was a Principal Dancer with the Chitresh Das Dance Company for nearly fifteen years, touring extensively in the United States and India. She is a recipient of a Fulbright Award supporting research on classical dance as a vehicle for empowerment and self-actualization. Mehta is frequently invited to speak on embodied knowledge, lineage and mentorship, and dance as a path to consciousness and transformation.