Shivani Joshi

Artist

Shivani Joshi’s artistic practice stems from years of embodying Bharatanatyam training and Indian Folk dance styles. She continues to nurture her artistic practice with pieces that combine props and narrative to explore modern stories, and she plays with visual metaphor in physical form. Shivani graduated with an MA in Performance Studies from NYU Tisch in 2021, where her dissertation focused on communities of women creating cultural spaces, colonialism in India, and how it affected Bharatnatyam as a whole. She works as a Bharatnatyam dance artist, an arts educator, and guest speaker, offering workshops about Indian heritage, women’s spaces, dance, and diversity. Shivani advocates for the importance of folk arts, such as Garba, and teaches various folk dances and prop work that is prominent in Indian culture. Shivani was a contributing writer in the Nova Dance book, ‘We will remember this’, published by Dance Collection Danse. As the Research Lead of Pounds Per Square Inch Performance’s New Fulcrum Project, Shivani continues to serve communities of global majority in her work.