Loha - 2000 / Credits

Natasha Bakht is an Indian contemporary dancer and choreographer who has trained in bharata natyam under Menaka Thakkar for over twenty years.  Natasha has been described as "a brilliant diamond" (The Dance Current, 2005)..."all honed to the bone elegance and precision" (Vancouver Sun, 2004).  Her piece Obiter Dictum was nominated for 2003 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Choreography.  Her 2007 solo performances at the Centre Pierre Péladeau were rated by La Presse among the top ten best dance shows of the year.  She is the 2008 co-recipient of the K.M. Hunter Artists Award.  Thread marks her third collaboration with choreographer Roger Sinha. 

Having graduated with honors, in 1995, from the École Supérieure de Danse du Québec and finished 8 years of training with the Kala Bharati school of Bharata Natya dancing, Neelanthi Vadivel began her professional career with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens and the Ontario Ballet Theatre. In 1998, she joined the ranks of Les Ballets jazz de Montréal and, since 2001, has also been dancing for the choreographer Roger Sinha.

Roger Sinha was born in England of an Armenian mother and an Indian father. In his work he explores themes of cultural dissonance and tensions created by the collision of East and West. Exploring his origins he uses tradition for a contemporary expression of his reality. Sinha's choreographic vocabulaire combines the subtleties of Indian dance, with the full body movements of modern, ballet and the martial arts.