Barkha Patel

barkha patel is a touring kathak artist, choreographer, educator and Artistic Director of barkha dance company. She has trained in kathak with Rachna Sarang and continues her training with Swati Sinha and Dheerendra Tiwari.

barkha’s work has been presented at venues such as Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out, Little Island, 92Y, and Chelsea Factory among others. barkha has been recipient of the 2023 Juried Bessie Award through which she received support from the New York State Dance Force in 2024, to tour a full-evening work ahaM | Maha to the Reg Lenna Center, 171 Cedar Arts, and Rochester University.

In 2024, she was awarded the Princess Grace Dance Award, selected as a finalist for NEFA’s National Dance Project Finalist, and was a Harlem Stage WaterWorks Fellow where she developed a part of her new full-length work called Ramti Aave - Her Playful Arrival. She has been a recipient of residencies with Movement Research residency (‘22 - ‘24), New York Choreographic Institute (‘25), and Topaz Arts (‘26). She recently completed her first India tour in collaboration with Canadian kathak artist Tanveer Alam. Their new duet Ibaadat presented at venues such as Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Center (Mumbai), India Habitat Centre (Delhi), Medai (Bangalore), Hyderabad Literature Festival and at Aadhyam Textiles (Hyderabad). barkha and Tanveer recently presented a new work at the prestigious Fall for Dance North Festival in Canada.

Barkha currently is a recipient of the Special Projects Grant from the Princess Grace Foundation through which she is developing a new evening-length work set to premiere in 2026.