Divya Drasti School of Dance

Making a show sound cohesive and flow together seamlessly makes a world of difference. I learned just how much at ‘s recent production, Pehchaan. I am thrilled that is able to lend his expertise to craft the soundscape for my upcoming show, Paheli: The Riddle of Motherhood. Come check out his magic NEXT weekend at Zohar Dance in Palo Alto!
Click the link in bio for details and tickets!

About Akhil:
Akhil Joondeph (he/they) is a multidisciplinary artist from the San Francisco Bay Area. He has trained extensively in Odissi and other indigenous South Asian dance forms, as well as various other disciplines, including contemporary, modern, and hip hop. He has also studied music, primarily jazz and electronic composition styles, and has trained in drums and percussion instruments. He currently mixes music for a host of collegiate competitive dance teams, composes original musical work, and has worked on the sound design for dance productions. His musical style lies at the intersection of his knowledge of both western and South Asian music theory, compositional sensibilities, instrumentation, rhythmic patterns, and melodic structures, and seeks to integrate both of these musical frameworks into auditory works that transcend genre.

Since I first found .godhuli on during the pandemic, I have loved her ability to distill life’s moments into beautiful captivating poetry. When I started developing Paheli: The Riddle of Motherhood I knew I had to find a way to collaborate. Come check out what we’ve created on September 30th and October 1st!

About Godhuli:
Godhuli Chatterjee Gupta is a first-generation South Asian American writer with a combined expertise in strategic communications and creative writing. Her poetry explore the trials of motherhood, the immigrant experience, cultural duality, and reclaiming your heritage and identity. Her book Desert Marigold is available on . Be sure to check out her stunning work!

About Paheli:
Paheli: The Riddle of Motherhood is a dance production that explores the identity shift women face during the transformational phase of motherhood. Based on my personal experience and those of my community, this work explores the grieving over lost identities, reinventing oneself and cultivating self-love.

Show times:
September 30th @ 6pm
October 1st @ 3pm

Ticket link in bio! DM with any questions.

By any means necessary. I love how thrilling the final weeks of show prep can be. Feeling your body live and breath the movements over and over again until there’s nothing else that makes sense.

Less than 2.5 weeks to go! Have you gotten your tickets yet?

Paheli: The Riddle of Motherhood is a dance production that explores the identity shift women face during the transformational phase of motherhood. Based on my personal experience and those of my community, this work explores the grieving over lost identities, reinventing oneself and cultivating self-love.

Show times:
September 30th @ 6pm
October 1st @ 3pm

Ticket link in bio! DM with any questions.

I asked to create artwork based on the vision for Paheli: The Riddle of Motherhood and wow did she deliver. It so beautifully captures the layers and complexities, the happiness and struggle and everything in between that this journey often represents.

Paheli: The Riddle of Motherhood is a dance production that explores the identity shift women face during the transformational phase of motherhood. Based on my personal experience and those of my community, this work explores the grieving over lost identities, reinventing oneself and cultivating self-love.

September 30th @ 6pm
October 1st @ 3pm

Ticket link in bio! Hope to see you there!

It takes a village to create work and I’m so grateful for my Bay Area tribe of artists who continue to inspire me. Each one of them has listened to me talk about this work from just an idea/concept to its current evolution. Without each of these beautiful humans supporting me, encouraging me, pointing me in the right direction to look for answers, challenging my ideas, pushing me to dig deeper, questioning me - this work would not have reached this point. Grateful for you
.godhuli

Special shout out to for being in the trenches with me and helping me bring this vision to life.

Forever grateful for the nudges to keep going, holding me accountable and being as excited as I was to create this. Endless gratitude ❤️

Check out the link in bio for tickets and more info!

Tickets are officially live for my upcoming show!

Paheli: The Riddle of Motherhood is a dance production that explores the identity shift women face during the transformational phase of motherhood. Based on my personal experience and those of my community, this work explores the grieving over lost identities, reinventing oneself and cultivating self-love.

September 30th @ 6pm
October 1st @ 3pm

Zohar Dance Studios in Palo Alto

Run time: 60 minutes followed by a Q&A about the work

For tickets visit www.drastimody.com/events or click the link in bio.

DM me with any questions and please do share with friends and family who might be interested. Hope to see you there!

Original photo by

PEHCHAAN ‘s premiere dance production is NEXT weekend!

4 shows from July 21-23rd

If you don’t already have your ticket, go to www.ishamidancecompany.com and come show your support!

We’ve been working towards next weekend’s show for the past 6 months and I can’t wait to share all that we’ve created. It’s been amazing working towards bringing and ‘s vision to life for this work. Each piece has been thoughtfully crafted and tells the stories of South Asians in the diaspora. I’ll also be presenting an excerpt from my upcoming show, Paheli: The Riddle of Motherhood. Can’t wait for you to experience this!

Original photo:
Edited by:

366 consecutive days of meditation. A daily practice of bringing my attention to my breath has been such an amazing teacher for me. There’s still much work to be done but today, I’m celebrating this milestone. 🎉

What’s something you thought you could never do? Consistency, commitment, discipline- all things I struggled with growing up but all things I strive for every single day right now. Because if I want my kids to learn these things, I must set the example.

The biggest thing I’ve learned through my practice is in the moment between when something happens to when I react, take a breath. Still very much a work in progress but life shifts take time. Just gotta keep showing up and doing the work.

Sometimes it’s all about perspective.

Throwback to this shot from 11 years ago- my last solo show. Sadly all the video footage was lost on some random hard drive. Funny to think that this was my “I’m hanging up my dancing shoes for good” show.

Fast forward to now and I’m dancing with artists that inspire me every week with and preparing for a solo show in the fall! Check out my stories and bio for a link to Ishami’s show in 2 weeks!

If you have a dream in your heart, hold it there. Keep planting seeds, keep practicing and allow the universe to do its work. 🧿❤️

I’ve been pouring my heart into this work for many months and it’s finally ready to be shared! Come join me for the debut presentation of:

PAHELI
The Riddle of Motherhood

September 30th @ 6pm
October 1st @ 3pm

Zohar Dance Studio
Palo Alto, CA

I’ll continue to share more over the coming months regarding process, what inspired me to create this work and all the beautiful people that have helped me along the way but for now, I hope you’ll save the date and share with friends! If you’d like to be the first to know details as I have them, be sure to join my mailing list at the link in bio and in my stories. I can’t wait to share this with you! 🧡

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