Noorani Dance staff & board

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.

Trisha brings with her a passion for both Kathak and a dedication to furthering the art among and beyond the South Asian community using social media and marketing strategies. After growing a community of over 130K followers across YouTube and Instagram with her own Dance organization called LTR Dance company, Trisha works with Noorani Dance in supporting its many programs and initiatives. From the Heartistry Talk Show, a podcast hosted by Farah Yasmeen Shaikh, Noorani Dance School, Noorani Dance Company, and much of Farah's marketing presence, Trisha enjoys creating dynamic and meaningful content for our organization and social media audiences. 

Rabia Meghani (she/her) is a Medical Researcher, Behavioral Therapist, Educator, Yoga Therapist and a student of Kathak. Rabia’s formal education is in public health and epidemiology. Merging her knowledge of disease and the ancient science of Yoga and Ayurveda, Rabia aims to make these practices accessible to the masses while honoring the roots of the science. Her passion lies in harmonizing western medicine with eastern healing methodologies. 

Sana is a marketer and has loved telling stories about the projects she's worked on over the past twenty years. She was an erstwhile startup founder and currently runs her one-woman communications consultancy. Sana is deeply motivated by South Asian causes - serving as the President of Hikmat Foundation USA, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to advancing girls' education in rural India, is the author of a children's book titled "Stories of the World," and has been a longtime admirer of Noorani's work prior to joining the Board. Sana lives in Virginia with her husband and two children. 

Manisha is a UX Designer who is passionate about Design, Art, Dance and Community Service. She was born and raised in Dubai and has lived in the Middle East, India and the United States. Her daughters, Simone and Siona, both received Kathak trainng at Noorani Dance School. As a former Kathak student in Chicago, Manisha is passionate about not just the dance form, but also the confidence it can bring, the community and sense of belonging it can create and the learning opportunities about culture and etiquette it can uncover. All of this is important to help ground children and adolescents and really everyone navigating their way in an environment that may seem ethnically unfamiliar at times. She admires the positive influence Noorani Dance has had on her daughters in this respect and looks forward to supporting the organization help others in this way.

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.

Antara Bhardwaj began her study of kathak at the age of nine with kathak maestro Pandit Chitresh Das, and has continued to pass the tradition of story-telling through dance and music with her own dance company and school, Antara Asthaayi Dance. In 2019, Bhardwaj was Honored as a Mosaic Silicon Valley Fellow for commitment to artistic excellence and strengthening community through multicultural arts. Her panache and magnetism have dazzled audiences throughout the U.S. and India, including a nationally televised performance in India, the creation of several world premiere performances throughout the Bay Area, as well as choreographing, performing, and cultural advising for Opera San Jose’s latest rendition of Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” based in colonial India, as a part of her fellowship with Mosaic America. Always trying to reach audiences beyond the traditional, her lecture demonstration "Dancing Mathematics," highlights the complex mathematics in the Hindustani music system, and has been presented routinely by several museums and tech companies. She identifies herself as a story-teller - her mediums being kathak, film, and writing. As a filmmaker, her production Upaj:Improvise, a dance documentary, was televised nationally on PBS (2014), and is currently available on Amazon.  Bhardwaj continues to produce short dance films, while developing her mastery of taal (rhythm) under the mentorship of Sandeep Das (a Grammy-award winning artist with whom she regularly collaborates and tours), and mentoring over twenty-five young girls and women through the art form of kathak.