A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats Intersections Conference 2025: Traditions and Innovations in Indian Classical Dance

09/02/2025 - Comments

Something exciting is about to shake up the classical Indian dance scene in the U.S. The very first Intersections Dance Conference 2025.

Co-hosted by MITHAS and the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute at Harvard University, this one-and-a-half-day gathering is a meeting ground where artists, scholars, and cultural leaders come together to ask hard questions, swap ideas, and imagine a stronger future for Indian classical dance in America.

Curated by the dynamic duo behind Boston’s Anubhava Dance Company, Shriya Srinivasan and Joshua George, the conference grew out of a massive listening project. Through interviews with more than 60 teachers, scholars, performers, and presenters across the diaspora, the same concerns kept bubbling up: access and equity, unclear career pathways, the weight of gatekeeping, and the constant push-pull between tradition and innovation.

What hit hardest? Younger dancers are facing almost the exact same struggles their mentors dealt with decades ago. Clearly, it’s time for change.

How presenters were chosen for Intersections was no casual decision. The team opened applications to everyone, and then brought in an external jury of five judges spanning different dance styles to keep things fair and fresh. The response was astounding, with applications pouring in from all corners of the U.S. The result is a lineup that truly reflects the diversity, energy, and innovation happening in the field today.

Registration gets you access to a jam-packed schedule, including:

Research talks, panel discussions, and poster sessions featuring 50+ artists from around the country
Panels on the big questions: What role does tradition play in a changing arts landscape? How do you actually build a career in dance? How do we get audiences to engage more deeply?
Skill-building workshops on grant writing, career planning, injury prevention, and movement technique
Working groups using design-thinking to cook up real, actionable solutions
Plenty of networking time (because, let’s be honest, half the magic happens over hallway conversations)
Discounted tickets to the MITHAS Dance Series concert, featuring Bharatanatyam superstar Priyadarsini Govind’s “Yavanika” and Anubhava Dance Company’s "Explorations"

Organizers are committed to concrete outcomes, including a white paper summing up key insights. Success will be tracked by post-conference surveys, and by who signs up to volunteer, commit, and keep the momentum going.

At the heart of the conference are Shriya and Josh, a biomedical engineer and doctor who just happen to also be powerhouse dancers.

Josh, with roots in the Kalakshetra tradition of Bharatanatyam, brings rigor and a sharp eye for authenticity. Shriya, trained in the Vazhuvoor style, juggles countless projects but still drives forward bold visions for dance. Together, they’ve built a partnership that sparks ideas and action.

As Shriya says, “Josh’s spatial and visual creativity is very high.” And as Josh puts it, “If I wasn’t working with Shriya, I’m not sure I’d be producing dance today.” Their scientific backgrounds seep into their creative work, giving them fresh ways to think about choreography and collaboration. In a world that’s increasingly digital, they remind us: “Live dance is one of the last spaces where we can be in a room to really feel.”

At the end of the day, Intersections is about taking action. Instead of sitting in cycles of complaint, the community is planting seeds for a slow, steady, seismic shift. Because when dancers come together, share resources, and lift each other up, we all rise.

So if you care about dance, whether as a practitioner, teacher, student, or fan, this is the place to be. Come ready to discuss, debate, learn, and dream big.

Find out more at http://mithas.org/dance