“With rhythmic spinning and sounds of bells, the gorgeous evening culminated in a dance of intense devotion and joy…What an exquisite evening of brilliant dance and music… This was a gift that needs to be shared”
– Joanne Divito, LA Dance Chronicle (Encounters With Beauty)

“Luminous and spellbinding… a masterful innovation in dance, music, and song… With power, precision, and grace, the dancers embody mystery, discovery, and merger. The result: we are transported into a time out of time, where the longing of mystics mingle with modern-day hearts. It feels like drinking from a sacred wellspring. Or entering a chamber of the heart longing to be opened.”
– Valarie Kaur, author of See No Stranger (Encounters With Beauty)

“Salastina’s virtuosic musicians burst forward on a journey outside of western lyric and rhythmic boundaries, and from the east Leela answers in kind with the ancient, sublime and percussive movement vocabulary of kathak dance. It is an innovative and engaging dialogue; meditative, explosive, global and timeless.”
– Audience Member (Encounters With Beauty)

“…an evening of rhythmic magic.”
– Jeff Slayton, LA Dance Chronicle (SPEAK)

“The East spoke to the West without using words. It made you feel nothing else matters as long as we can experience beauty like this. Humanity will triumph in-spite of all the adverse events happening around us.”
– Audience Member (SPEAK)

“These women welcome the collision of their individual genres, using their art as a container for the larger conversation about connection.”
– Amy Seiwert, Artistic Director of Amy Seiwert Imagery (SPEAK)

“The Artistic Directors of Leela Dance Collective have chosen an ambitious mission, to honor ancient traditions and bring them forward, made relevant to the present. There is no question that they are successful.”
– Mary Pat Cooney, LA Dance Chronicle (Son of the Wind)

“With its technical brilliance, emotional power, and reverent yet creative reinterpretation of sacred epic, Son of the Wind…was world-class transnational dance theater that celebrated Indian performance traditions even as it innovated within them and challenged cultural stereotypes.”
— Dr. Philip Lutgendorf, author of Hanuman’s Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey (Son of the Wind)

“Featuring a cast of all female kathak dancers, Son of the Wind is a powerful force, as it turns history on its head by presenting a full cast of women playing both male and female roles, adding another dimension to women’s capabilities as defenders and warriors, bringing a contemporary spin to India’s ancient epic the Ramayana.”
– Valerie-Jean Miller, Broadway World Los Angeles (Son of the Wind)