The Sierra Madre Playhouse becomes a hub for Indian classical dance and music when dancer/choreographer Rukhmani Mehta takes the stage for a spellbinding program of Kathak, a rarely performed traditional dance form known for its dazzling footwork and fast spins that originated in northern India, on Sunday, September 13, 2026, 4:00 PM. Mehta is joined by eminent sitarist Jayanta Banerjee and tabla master Salar Nader.
Kathak, comes from the Sanskrit word “Katha,” which means “story,” a fitting name for it, since storytelling is foundational to the dance style, which evolved from the wandering poets and singers called Kathakas who roamed northern India, sharing tales from Hindu mythology accompanied by graceful body movements and distinctive facial expressions.
The program features Sandhi, Mehta's personal exploration of traditional Kathak. With Sandhi, which in Sanskrit means a charged threshold or a meeting point between states, she transports the audience to a world that embodies ancient sacred Indian temples, the grandeur of the Mughal courts, the ecstatic longing of the Bhakti saints, the songs of the courtesans, and the stories of gods and goddesses that have traveled across time. Sandhi is where three currents meet: the story of India and her people, the story of Kathak itself, and the story of one artist at the threshold of both. As the ancient and the immediate collide, artist and audience find themselves changed, remade by an encounter with the living, the sacred, and the eternal.
Mehta, who is also a Kathak educator, has helped shape the landscape of Indian classical dance in the United States for more than two decades. Both lineage bearer and contemporary voice, she works at the intersection of classical Indian dance, contemporary performance, and embodied inquiry. A senior disciple of legendary master Pandit Chitresh Das, Mehta is Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Leela Dance Collective and Artistic Director of Leela Youth Dance Company, where she mentors young South Asian women as artists and cultural ambassadors.
For tickets ($12 -$35) and information, please call 626.355.4318 or visit www.sierramadreplayhouse.org. Sierra Madre Playhouse is located at 87 West Sierra Madre Boulevard, Sierra Madre, CA 91024.