Studio Stories: Reminiscing on Twin Cities Dance with Rita Mustaphi - Season 12, Episode 142

Rita Mustaphi is choreographer, dancer, educator and a disciple
of the living legend
Pandit Birju Maharaj in Kathak style of Indian classical dance.
She is known for her
visionary approach and innovations in dance, her
multi-disciplinary productions
incorporating spoken word, live and commissioned music, and the
utilization of
production elements. She is Founder and Artistic Director of
Katha Dance Theatre (est.
1987). Under her vision and leadership, the company has become
renowned for its
dynamic productions, distinctive movement style and technical
virtuosity. Her work,
intelligently crafted storytelling, is recognized as being
profoundly moving and
effortlessly intimate.
Ms. Mustaphi is a recipient of three McKnight Fellowships (1998,
1992, 1988) for
choreography, and recently received the forth McKnight Fellowship
for Choreography
(2023). She received a Leadership award from the Council of Asian
Pacific
Minnesotans, a Lifetime Achievement award from the India
Association of Minnesota
and an Education award from the Ordway Center for the Performing
Arts in the
category of Excellence in Vision.
With a career and a commitment to Kathak dance spanning 35+
years, over 500
performances, and 50+ original choreographic works, she still
revels in the process of
directing bodies in space, creating movement on her own body and
exploring what
“moves” an audience to become engaged emotionally, intellectually
and musically. Her
works have been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts,
Minnesota State
Arts Board, The McKnight Foundation, Metropolitan Regional Arts
Council and many
others. Ms. Mustaphi has been commissioned by the Ordway Center
for the Performing
Arts and toured her productions throughout the US, Canada and
India.