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Photos: Shaun Alexander
SPEAK brings together kathak virtuosos Rachna Nivas and Rukhmani Mehta and tap dance legends Michelle Dorrance and Dormeshia in an exhilarating evening of rhythm, poetry, storytelling, music, and dance.
SPEAK continues a conversation that began in 2004, when legendary kathak master Pandit Chitresh Das met tap phenomenon Jason Samuels Smith at the American Dance Festival. That encounter grew into India Jazz Suites, a collaboration that toured the United States and India for a decade, building not only a dialogue between two art forms but a deep bond between two communities. With Das's passing in 2015, his disciples Rachna Nivas and Rukhmani Mehta carried that conversation forward — inviting Michelle Dorrance and Dormeshia to join them in writing the next chapter. SPEAK is that chapter, now with women artists at the helm.
Not fusion but a genuine exchange, SPEAK brings kathak and tap to the stage in their full depth and integrity — two traditions in conversation, alongside a six-piece ensemble drawing from Hindustani classical music and American jazz. The result is an evening that is at once meticulously crafted and gloriously alive — virtuosic, joyful, and impossible to forget.
Since its world premiere at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in 2017, SPEAK has toured to the Mumbai Royal Opera House, Maui Arts & Cultural Center, Page Theater, NC State Live, and the Broad Stage, among others across India and the United States. Most recently, with support from Works & Process at the Guggenheim, SPEAK made its New York premiere at 92nd Street Y in February 2026 to overwhelming audience enthusiasm and critical praise.
Original Musical Cast
Original Musical Cast
Drums & Composer: Allison Miller
Piano: Carmen Staaf
Bass: Todd Sickafoose
Sitar & Composer: Jayanta Banerjee
Vocals: Debasish Sarkar
Tabla: Satyaprakash Mishra
Funders
Funders
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation
New Music USA
California Arts Council
National Endowment for the Arts
Zellerbach Family Foundation
Esper A. Petersen Foundation
Show Information
Show Information
Run Time: 90 minutes
Cast: 4 dancers, 6 musicians
Touring Party: 12 (10 performers, 2 crew)
Concept: Rina Mehta & Rachna Nivas
Choreography: Rachna Nivas, Rukhmani Mehta, Dormeshia, Michelle Dorrance
Original Score: Jayanta Banerjee, Allison Miller, Carmen Staaf
Lighting Design: Dave Robertson
Sound Design: Brian Mohr & Neil Skacel
Press
In SPEAK, American tap dancers collaborate with their counterparts in kathak, a classical Indian percussive dance form. While these genres have been crossed before, rarely have the participants been such masters of their art.
Brian Seibert, The New York Times
I love how this conversation between dance and music generates such palpable joy. It ripples through the room—contagious, bold, and powerfully bright.
This fusion of razor precision and gleeful abandon, paired with a virtually boundless palette of sound and movement, leaves abundant fuel for future iterations of SPEAK.
Carla Escoda, Bachtrack
…an evening of rhythmic magic.
Jeff Slayton, LA Dance Chronicle
...a sunny break from our me-first fractured world…
Laura Blieberg, The Los Angeles Times
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