As an educator and community leader, Rachna has trained and mentored hundreds of students. She is a tireless advocate - raising awareness, expanding perceptions, and deepening knowledge of Indian classical art. She is especially passionate about emboldening pride and ownership in the South Asian diaspora for its rich and intricate artistic heritage that was tragically disenfranchised and discredited for over a century by British colonization. Rachna is also relentlessly committed to maintaining a societal value for the pursuit of mastery of a craft - a paradigm she believes is on the decline today. Rachna contends that commodification of knowledge and denigration of it to be mere “content” are some of the contributing factors to the waning value of mastery. To this end, one of the fundamental tenets of Rachna’s work and vision for the community is to build environments of excellence that inspire immersive study and curiosity, long-term teacher/student relationships, artistic exchange, social discourse, camaraderie and community support, and a cultural atmosphere that honors our elders’ and ancestors’ passing of oral traditions.
Mentorship
Leela Academy, the official training school for Leela Dance Collective, has centers in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Denver. Co-founded by acclaimed senior disciples of Pandit Chitresh Das - Rachna Nivas, Rukhmani Meha, and Seibi Lee - along with Dr. Sarah Morelli, Leela’s approach to kathak education cultivates a rich and challenging learning environment for students of all ages and backgrounds. Leela’s curriculum provides students with rigorous training in kathak technique and movement from both the Lucknow and Jaipur gharanas along with foundational training in abhinaya, tal and Hindustani classical music. Training on the dance floor is complemented with intensive education in South Asian history, philosophy, and mythology. As students progress to advanced levels they have the opportunity to enter into pre-professional and professional training programs, preparing them to be performers and educators. Leela’s educational program reflects its commitment to helping passionate and talented individuals achieve their full potential as artists, leaders, cultural ambassadors, and global citizens.
Leela Academy
In 2016, Rachna Nivas spear-headed the Leela Dance NYC Initiative, galvanizing grassroots work to bring workshops, classes, and performance of her lineage for the first time to New York City, the dance capital of the world. With a growing base and interest in the teachings, Rachna relocated from San Francisco to NYC in 2020 and founded the official New York chapter of Leela. Under her helm, Leela Academy of New York is now a thriving cultural and artistic training institution with weekly classes, intensives with resident musical artists from India, a popular summer immersion program, and thrilling student productions.
New York Chapter of Leela
Rachna’s passion and commitment to building pride of Indian classical art in the South Asian community has led her to emerge as a powerful role model. In particular, she believes in making the art relevant, inspiring, and empowering for youth. As such, she was Artistic Director of Leela Youth Dance Company (formerly Chhandam Youth Dance Company) for almost a decade - shepherding excellence, leadership, and dance empowerment amongst teens. Under her vision, she built the program to become a space for the next generation of South Asian girls to find their unique voices and to become tomorrow’s leaders and changemakers. This included creating LYDC programs like the youth conference Who are We: Activating Youth Voices in the South Asian Diaspora, a big sister youth mentorship program, a community service leadership program, and being commissioned to create new works for the WorldWideWomen girls festival, Philadelphia Youth Festival, and collaborations with Whoop Dee Doo, a contemporary artist-led initiative that partners with youth performing artists to create one-of-a-kind variety shows.
Leela Youth Dance Company
Chhandam School of Kathak
Prior to founding Leela, Rachna was appointed by Pandit Das to direct his educational institution, Chhandam School of Kathak, in the San Francisco Bay area. She was instrumental in building the school to become one of the largest and most influential North Indian art institutions outside of India, with 550 students and almost 20 teachers. Under the tutelage of Pandit Das, she built organizational infrastructure, trained teachers, pioneered a popular and ground-breaking summer camp program, directed school-wide dance dramas with over 300 students performing, and thoughtfully evolved Pandit Das’ curriculum and pedagogy for a changing world and diaspora. This era in Rachna’s artistic journey served as the bedrock of her extensive experience, knowledge, and vision as an educator and convener of community around the highest standard of the art.