Heartistry: Recent Episodes
Rukus Avenue Radio
Farah Yasmeen Shaikh is an international kathak artist - a renowned performer, choreographer and instructor, and Founder/Director of Noorani Dance. Farah is known for her evocative storytelling, technical precision, delicacy and grace, with a unique artistic voice that focuses on topics of historical, social and political relevance, whilst simultaneously maintaining the classical elements of this dance form from ancient India. Performing her own traditional and innovative works, most notably, The Forgotten Empress, focused on the life of Mughal Empress Noor Jahan and Farah’s newest work, The Partition Project - a compelling play based on the 1947 India-Pakistan Partition performed through dance, theater, music and multimedia, in collaboration with EnActe Arts. Farah has received support and recognition for her work from the Walter & Elise Haas Fund, New England Foundation for the Arts, Zellerbach Family Foundation, Alliance for California Traditional Arts, San Francisco Foundation, SVCreates and Dancers’ Group. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area and training the next generation of Kathak artists in the U.S., Farah performs and teaches extensively in Pakistan.
Former Captain of the Pakistan National Football Team, 3-time Guinness World Record holder, Mental Health Advocate & Ambassador
Business Strategy Consultant, Meditation Teacher, Yoga & Reiki Energy Healing Practitioner, Dancer
Medical Researcher, Behavioral Therapist, Educator, Yoga Therapist & Ayurvedic Practitioner
Medical Researcher, Behavioral Therapist, Educator, Yoga Therapist & Ayurvedic Practitioner
Dance Educator, Choreographer & Performer / Founder & Artistic Director of Kiandanda Dance Theater & Mbongui Square Festival Attachments area
TedX Speaker, Circle Facilitator, Montessorian, Creative Healing Practitioner, Subtle Energy Observer
Applied Performance Practitioner, Actor, Improvisation Coach, Performer, Educator from Pakistan
Bhumi Patel - queer, desi artist/activist, dance scholar, and director of pateldanceworks
Raasti Said Diwan, Yoga Instructor & Owner of Yoga Lift in Pakistan Maria Aeliya Jafri, Yoga Instructor & Co-Founder of Jump Chinese in Pakistan
Meenu Devrani, Silversmith & Founder of Vaasvara Jewelry & Fyoli Fyoli Saloni Shrestha, Social Entrepreneur, Fashion Designer, Founder of Agaati & Agaati Foundation Attachments area
Sima Belmar, host of "Dance Cast" / Pramit Baul, host of "The Kathak Podcast" / Andrea Spearman, host of "The Black Landscape".
Host of Revolutionary Voices, Leadership Mentor, Spoken Word Artist, TedX Speaker and Producer
Founders of "Mindfully Just: Integration Social Justice, Yoga & Collective Transformation"
Creators of this LatinX dance series: Karla Quintero, Mario Ismael Espinoza & David Herrera
Empowerment Coach for creatives & South Asian women. Connector of Ideas, People, Community. Creative Producer, Cultural Strategist
Musician, Educator, Arts Entrepreneur, Founder & Artistic Director of the Berklee Indian Ensemble.
Aditya Prakash @adityaprakashmusic is an award-winning vocalist known for his powerful and emotive voice - a young virtuoso of Carnatic music, and one of the youngest musicians to tour and perform with Ravi Shankar at the age of 16. In addition, Aditya has worked with leading innovators of the arts such as Anoushka Shankar, Karsh Kale, Tigran Hamasyan and most recently Akram Khan. In 2010, Aditya founded the Aditya Prakash Ensemble, a group that frames Aditya’s highly ornamented, stylized and emotive Carnatic vocal style around jazz instrumentation.
On Sun, May 23, @farahyasmeenshaikh and @nooranidance along with artists and volunteers from across the globe are coming together to host a virtual fundraiser in support of COVID relief efforts in response to the crisis in India. The event will feature performances of dance, music and more, while raising awareness and funds for 3 amazing organizations providing critical aid to the many in need.
This week's episode of the Heartistry Talk Show welcomes representatives from two of the organizations -
Altaf Ghori @altaf_go of Indian Muslim Relief & Charities @imrc_usa
Neelam Bhavnani @nbhavnani & Shivaani Sharma @shivaanisharma of Home of Hope, Inc. @homeofhopeinc
Along with these organizations, proceeds from the fundraiser will also go to Khalsa Aid @khalsaaidusa
Anu Sehgal is the Founder of @theculturetree Anu @anuseghalny grew up in India and is a native Hindi speaker. She is an active parent and believes an awareness of one’s heritage, culture and language is key for children to become self-aware and confident individuals. Anu founded The Culture Tree five years ago, with a desire to fill a vacuum for quality and educational South Asian events and classes in the New York City area.
As a cultural educator, she provides children with authentic, immersive and inspiring experiences, offering the children and their families cross-cultural exposure that can help develop knowledgeable, open-minded and respectful individuals.
Sahil K is a Singer, Songwriter and Music Director based in Toronto, Canada, and is the disciple of Late Ustad Sardool Sikander Ji. Sahil K @sahil_k_music has been training in Indian Classical Music, Sufi Music and Folk Music for the past 15 years, and now owns a music production company by the name of "Karma Productions" specializing in Music Production, Film Background Scoring, Vocal Dubbing/Voice-overs, Foley Sound, Audio Engineering, Mixing/Mastering).r
Featuring Dance heARTivists (heart led, artist-activist): Nadhi Thekkek, Alicia Nascimento Castro, Athena Nair, Aysha Upchurch, Brinda Guha
Indian Yoga Practitioner and Author of "Embrace Yoga's Roots: Courageous Ways to Deepen Your Yoga Practice"