About SPEAK

SPEAK brings together kathak virtuosos Rachna Nivas and Rukhmani Mehta and tap dance legends Michelle Dorrance and Dormeshia in an exhilarating evening of rhythm, poetry, storytelling, music, and dance.

SPEAK continues a conversation begun by legendary kathak master Pandit Chitresh Das and tap phenomenon Jason Samuels Smith, whose celebrated collaboration India Jazz Suites toured the United States and India for a decade — building not only a dialogue between two art forms but a deep bond between two communities. With Das’s passing in 2015, his disciples Rachna Nivas and Rukhmani Mehta carried that conversation forward — inviting Michelle Dorrance and Dormeshia to join them in writing the next chapter. SPEAK is that chapter, now with women artists at the helm.

Not fusion but a genuine exchange, SPEAK brings kathak and tap to the stage in their full depth and integrity — two traditions in conversation, alongside a six-piece ensemble drawing from North Indian classical music and American jazz. The result is an evening that is at once meticulously crafted and gloriously alive — virtuosic, joyful, and impossible to forget.

Booking Information: 
Noé Kains
different birds
noe@differentbirds.org