https://www.longbeach.gov/library/news/aapihm-2025
Danish Bhandara is a professional dancer, actress, choreographer & dance teacher. She has over 12 yrs of training in Kathak (a Classical Indian dance form), Bollywood dance, & Raqs Sharqi (Belly dance). In 2017 she graduated from UCLA with a BA in World Arts & Cultures- emphasis in Dance. Danish has performed at Disney CA Adventures & Disney Animal Kingdom with Blue 13 Dance Company for which she has also been dance captain. Some of her other notable work include dancing LIVE on KTLA 5’s Morning News, A.R Rahman’s Concert at the Hollywood Bowl, pop stars’ Latto & Anne Marie’s music video I Just Called , the launch of Netflix series: We Speak Dance, and choreographing for the play West Bollywood written by Aruna Harjani, directed by Kiff Scholl . As a South Asian performing artist & educator Danish cares deeply about authentic representation, equity, & increasing access to multicultural arts education. She hopes to continue to help these causes through her work.
Ishika Muchhal is an LA-based Indian American storyteller and artist. With a BFA in Acting from CalArts and over 19 years of training in many styles of singing and dancing, she strives to create art through a decolonial, intersectional, and mixed-media lens. A strong advocate for authentic, multi-dimensional representation, she received the California Arts Council ‘Individual Artist Fellow’ grant for her interview series A QISSAA with Ishika: Quintessential and Inspiring Stories of South Asian Artists. Alongside performing, Ishika works in numerous capacities across arts administration, political organizing, fundraising and advocacy, and community engagement and is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow. Ishika also loves to travel, create collage art, write, and make eggcelent puns that will surely crack you up. Recent credits: Tiny Little Town (Theatre Movement Bazaar), Silent Hill: Ascension (VO), Seven Hoshi (CalArts), Something in the Air (Hudson), The Fig and the Wasp (CalArts), Dear Mother Moon (Edinburgh Fringe), and The Pomegranate Tree (Chapman Dodge). http://www.ishikamuchhal.com/
Our popular show Indian Mythogy and Me will be performed by Ulka Simone Mohanty and Shyamala Moorty. Interactive fun for the whole family, we hope to see you there! Santa Fe Springs is just North of Long Beach and South of Whittier.
The Dancing Storytellers newest show, The “Summ” of All Things, illuminates cycles in nature through imaginative South Asian dance, music, and stories. Audiences will delight in Bhangra dance, which celebrates the harvest; an interactive hand dance will unveil the trans-formative life of a butterfly; and a beautiful Sufi story will uplift the audience as they follow a river on its cyclical journey. The “Summ” of All Things was written and directed by Shyamala Moorty, choreographed and performed by Shyamala Moorty and Ulka Simone Mohanty, composed by Neelamjit Dhillon, science consultation by Meredith Casalino, and created with support from Segerstrom Center for the Arts’ STEAM Integration Lab.
See these wacky new characters come to life: Shyamala Moorty as the “Monarch Queen” and Ulka Simone Mohanty as the “Farmer”
This Fall, The “Summ” of All Things will be touring Elementary Schools in Southern CA through the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Meanwhile, check out a sneak preview that you can bring your whole family to at Kidwallah, a part of the South Asian arts festival, Artwallah: June 2, 11am-12:15pm, Highways Performance Space, Santa Monica, CA.
Click here for more information: Kidwallah
Donate here to ensure a spot: Artwallah/Kidwallah Donations
Photos from last year’s Kidwallah, courtesy of Adnan Hussain
Now known as “Indian Mythology and Me” our show is represented on the Music Center on Tour Artist Roster and has undergone some upgrades, including this beautiful new backdrop by artist Khushboo Gulati (pictured below with the artist).
Also pictured is our newest member of Dancing Storytellers, Ulka Simone Mohanty!
Ulka joined us in early 2017 when Sheetal was busy with wedding plans to perform the show while we continued to tour various schools across Southern CA.
She was a hit with the fans (as seen below signing autographs for kids)
Ulka and Shyamala performed for over 2,000 kids in the 2016-17 school year.
Stay tuned for more news on the Dancing Storytellers spreading peace in all things, everywhere!
Ulka and Shyamala after performing at Dolores St. Elementary
Thanks to all that joined us at the FORD!
Here are some memorable moments captured by Wendy Moorty:
Sharing new choreography
Dancing with musicians
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Interacting with the kids
Dancing up a storm
Making beautiful music
Performing funny characters
And finally, meeting families after the show!
One of the Panchantantra Tales we include in Stories…on the MOVE!, coming to the Ford Ampitheater Sat July 27, is the tale of The Big Elephant and the Little Mouse:
Breaking the notions of big and small, powerful and weak, this is a story that teaches us never to under estimate anyone based on what they look like.
Here we are at Palisades Elementary, the big elephant towering over the little mouse….
And here is a clip of the elephant rhythm we are working on in rehearsal…
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/70343368 w=500&h=281]
Yesterday we had an open rehearsal of the new version of Stories…on the MOVE! We were told by our colleagues that came to give us feedback that the show is “joyful” and “clever”! We hope you join us for the fun on July 27th at 10am at the Ford Amphitheater! Get tickets here.
Meantime here’s some photos of some of the funnest parts of the show where we interact with the audiences, thanks to Gemina Gowdy who took photos at one of our performances at Palisades Elementary School.
After we taught this poem to the kids, using hasta mudras (hand gestures) to tell a story, a kindergartener told us he thought the story was about how we’re all connected with our hearts!
Here we’ve chosen a kid who was able to use abhinaya (expression) to show and angry demon king, Mahishasura.
And now the courageous Durga has come to challenge Mahishasura’s repressive regime!
The audience has to guess what happens…
A bunch of 3rd grade boys saw us after the show and told us we were “cool!”
Photo by Chris Emerick, courtesy of the Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts.
Check out what we’ve been up to with our new musical collaborators Jas and Kamaljeet Ahluwalia!
See us live Saturday July 27, 2013 @10am at the FORD Get your on-line tickets here!
In the meantime, here’s a tidbit from our musical rehearsals:
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/69760208 w=500&h=281]
A rhythm from Northern Ghana on the Calabash mixing with Hindustani music on the tabla and santoor.
Making music in front of the altar at Khmer Arts Academy while Khmer Art’s Associate Artistic Director, Prumsodun Ok, works in the background.
Our rehearsals for the Ford’s BIG!WORLD!FUN! series have been generously supported with rehearsal space from West LA College (video above) and at the Khmer Arts Academy (pic above).