Administrative Staff

Internationally renowned performer, choreographer and instructor, Farah received her training for almost two decades from the late Pandit Chitresh Das. In 2016, Farah founded her own cultural arts organization, Noorani Dance.

In addition to her work as a the Artistic Director of Noorani Dance, Farah oversees all aspects of the administrative infrastructure and programs for the organization.
Learn more about Farah

Bhumi is a queer, desi artist/activist who creates intersectional feminist, multidisciplinary art. Her work traverses dancing, choreographing, curating, educating, writing, and arts administration. She earned her MA in American Dance Studies from Florida State University and her MFA in Dance from Mills College. Patel is on faculty at West Valley College, Lone Mountain Children’s Center, and Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. Bhumi is a member of Cat Call Choir.

Lakshmi, a trained Bharatnatyam dancer, fluent in several Indian languages is the School Administrator for Noorani Dance. She has about 8 years of Non profit experience working with youth at the India Community Center She has mentored and empowered summer camp counselors to become the best role models they can be for the younger generation. She has 2 daughters presently learning Kathak under Farah in the Noorani Dance School and would one day love to return back to dancing Kathak.

Uma Menon met Farah Yasmeen Sheikh over 15 years back, when introducing her daughter Athena to Kathak through Chhandam. Later on she became a student, TA, volunteer as well and worked with Farah in many dimensions. Since inception of Noorani, she has gratefully seen FarahDi's mentorship and teaching touch many lives including hers.

Uma works at Google and is passionate about leveling children's education around the world. Performing and fine arts are synonymous to godliness in her family.

Kanthi Sarkar and her family are lovers of the performing arts. They are deeply involved in various cultural arts organizations as avid patrons, volunteers, and are known for often organizing the coming together of community to support and appreciate the arts in their own home. Kanthi has been a part of Noorani Dance since its inception and is a founding member of the Board of Directors. Kanthi works at Apple, managing large scale cloud services. She also enjoys hiking and running.

A true desi at heart, Arti gravitates towards the arts from South Asia, be it dance, music or poetry. Having originally enrolled her daughter in classes at Noorani Dance, Arti was drawn not only to the dance technique, but also the culture, etiquette, expression and self confidence that is imparted to each student, and for the high standards of discipline and of community that exists at Noorani Dance. Art is a VP, Americas Compliance, PMO at Bank of the West

Somya Chauhan, CPA, is an Indian-American business executive. She is currently in the Finance team at Alphabet Inc. where she leads a team that is responsible for the company’s global expenses, month close reporting and day-to-day operations. 

Somya has trained to be a career coach. She facilitates a leadership development program at Google and also offers one-on-one career coaching sessions. 

Prior to joining Google, Somya worked in corporate accounting at HP and prior to HP in the audit and advisory services at EY in Chicago and the Bay Area. 

Somya hosts Talks at Google Speaker Series bringing Googlers from around the globe face-to-face with today’s most prominent and innovative thought leaders including Darren J Gold, Bobbi Brown and Dylan Werner. 

Somya is on the board of California Society of CPAs that serves over 45,000 members and is an advisor to various non profits including GirlVentures and NextLevel. 

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Born in pre Partition India, and moving to Pakistan as a young child, Najma grew up in Karachi where she trained to be a Physical Therapist. Upon moving to the US in 1971 and starting her family, she opted to manage a physical therapy practice with her husband for over 20 years in Salinas, CA. Avid patrons of the South Asian arts, Najma and her family would regularly attend  classical, Qawwali, and dance performances for many years, enduring the one way 2-hour long drive to the Bay Area where most of the events took place. Upon retiring in the early 2000’s, Najma and her husband, Amjad, decided to move closer to where the action was so they could enjoy even more of such events. 

Philanthropy has always been a core value for Najma and her husband, both dedicated volunteers and supporters of education in Pakistan through their commitment to The Citizens Foundation (TCF), and of countless causes and organizations with the intention of doing their part to better humanity and the world we live in. 

And yes, if you’re wondering about the connection to Najma’s name, she happens to be the mother of Farah Yasmeen Shaikh, founder of Noorani Dance.

Internationally renowned performer, choreographer and instructor, Farah received her training in Kathak for almost two decades from the late Pandit Chitresh Das. In 2016, Farah founded her own cultural arts organization, Noorani Dance - presenting and producing  traditional and innovative training and performances, and collaborative partnerships across other forms of performing arts, displaying Farah’s unique artistic expression and vision coupled with the classical and innovative style of her Guru, the late Kathak maestro, Pandit Chitresh Das. Farah directs all aspects of the administrative and artistic aspects of Noorani Dance and has received recognition and awards 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, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts and Dancers’ Group and the California Arts Council.