March Guest Speaker: Interactive session with Urja Desai Thakore

This month, in celebration of International Womens Day we invite guest speaker Urja Desai Thakore to lead an interactive session where she'll be speaking about her work, philosophy, family, and leading an open discussion with a Q & A. Urja is one of the UK's leading kathak dancers and choreographers, whose sensitive, thought- provoking style is highly regarded by traditionalists and modernists alike.

She studied under the guidance of Kumudini Lakhia at Kadamb, Ahmedabad for over 20 years. Urja then received her BA in Kathak from Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Maha Vidyalaya. She has also completed an MA in South Asian Dance with Choreography from Roehampton University.

Urja is the Artistic Director of Pagrav Dance Company (PDC), which she established in the UK in 2005. The company promotes kathak, giving the form a modern context and renewed presentation, whilst encouraging new thinking and understanding of the discipline. Most recently, PDC has been working on their new work Kattam Katti, based on the festival of kites. The work will be touring in Autumn'21 and Spring '22 and have been supported by Arts Council England , Milton Keynes Council and Co commissioned by Sadler's Wells

Urja is also an active advocator for the dance sector in her position as an ISTD Committee Member. She was also selected as one of 20 artists for One Dance UK’s Mentoring Programme in 2015, having been recognised as a future dance industry leader. She has been selected as one of the 24 leaders around the world for Dance Rural Retreat for leaders organised by DanceEast. PDC have been regularly supported by Arts Council England, Milton Keynes Council, Akademi, South East Dance, SAA UK and Gem Arts on their various projects .

Urja has a breadth of experience which she'll be generously sharing during this session on 6pm, Friday 12th March.

We welcome you to join and be part of this great opportunity to hear, discuss and ask Urja any questions you may have regarding her dance journey. Please do sign up and book your place via our website. Booking is free as this is a voluntary platform set up by Vidya. Do follow and subscribe to support this initiative of connecting, developing, and progressing collectively as dance artists in the UK.

We really look forward to seeing you there! If you have any further questions, please do get in touch.