© Pierre Tappon

Nandita Shankardass is a Performing Artist, Choreographer, Educator, Movement facilitator and the Founder of Welcome Movement®She is a Clore Emerging Leader alumni of 2022, an Artist in Residence and Faculty member at Rambert Dance and an Associate Artist at English National Ballet.

Nandita founded Welcome Movement® in 2020 to generate wellbeing, stimulate creativity and empower freedom of expression through movement and dance for individuals, organisations and communities to engage with and explore. She has devised and delivered workshops and performances for Summer on the Square with National Gallery and Design and Dance Family workshops at William Morris Gallery. She has also created tailored experiences for other organisations and spaces including JKS Restaurant group, GuarantCo, Baytree Centre, English National Ballet Youth Co., and Spring Grove Care Home.

Nandita is interested in how the creative and production processes in the arts and culture can generate a sustainable future for the environment, which surrounds us, as well as the inner environment of our body, mind and soul. She is continually driven by the care and compassion she can create and offer in her creative processes and in the participatory experiences and spaces she facilitates. Nandita is passionate about empowering females to rise and follow their creative dreams and visions and aspires to work towards the dance sector becoming welcoming, safe and inclusive to all. She forms part of the Dancers Career Development EDI working group 2022-2023 and the Artists’ advisory group for Without Walls Consortium 2023 -2024.

Born in London, Nandita started learning Ballet at age 4 at the Audrey Joyce School of Dance in North London and went on to train at The Royal Ballet School from the age of 11. From an early age she nurtured a passion for choreography and during her time as a student was awarded The Dame Ninette De Valois Award & The James Monahan Award for her choreographic work. To date, she is one of two females of Indian heritage to have trained at The Royal Ballet School, and went on to become one of the few female professional Ballet dancers of Indian heritage in the world.

Her career has taken her to dance with world-renowned companies; Zürcher Ballet, Victor Ullate Ballet, Ballet Black, Scottish Ballet and Compañia Nacional de Danza, performing across Europe and the U.K and touring internationally in a diverse range of classical and contemporary repertoire by a colourful spectrum of choreographers including George Balanchine, William Forysthe, Jiri Kylian, Ben Stevenson, Uwe Scholz, Ohad Naharin, Lin Hwai-min, Ashley Page, Kryztof Pastor, Jose Carlos Martinez, Richard Alston, Shobana Jeyasingh, Liam Scarlett and Juanjo Arques and Heidi Verthaler and Heinz Spoerli.

Her professional choreographic commissions include ‘Capture’ for Zürcher Junior Ballet in 2006,  ‘Synergy’ for Ballet Black’s Young Choreographers’ showcase in 2011 and ‘Jaane Ajnabee’ for Compania Nacional de Danza’s Young Choreographers’ evening in 2012, whilst a member of these companies. She was commissioned to choreograph and perform for tve Global Sustainability Awards in 2012 in collaboration with Flux with the piece ‘Shadowlines.’ and in 2021 with ‘Everything that touches you, you touch’ in collaboration with poet Sunnah Khan and musician Tommy Khosla. Nandita co – produced and performed in the collaborative work ‘In Other Words’ with Flux and Richard Bermange at Kings Place in 2016. She choreographed and produced the dance film ‘Returns to Nature’ in collaboration with composer Preetha Narayanan and cinematographer Thom Seaman and Dance film ‘Dhi Nīla’ in collaboration with Mithun Gill.

Nandita has choreographed the solo ‘Rainsoaked…’ which she has performed across London in a variety of spaces. She choreographed the duets ‘Lightweight’ for Normansfield Theatre and ‘Umbra’. Nandita has performed in Vidya Patel’s ‘When life gives you melons’ at Sadlers Wells and in ‘Good mourning earth’ along with facilitating family workshops at Tate Modern and has performed with Orchestra Qawwali Project at The Camden Roundhouse. She has collaborated with Sujata Banerjee Dance Company, teaching and performing in their production of ‘Swan Lake’ (retold with Kathak dance). Nandita performed in ‘The Game’ by Hubert Essakow and in ‘Two sides to every swan’ by Joseph Toonga for Family Sunday events at the Royal Opera House. She has performed with Adrian Look Tanztheater in ‘The Art of Failure’ at The Place and with Beeja Dance in their production of ‘Choogh Choogh’ created for early years.

Nandita has collaborated with Joss Arnott Dance in Dance:Connects programme for Greenwich Dance’s Arts Unboxed and with Sadlers Wells to co-create Taster Dance workshops for their Take Part online series. She has worked with Fabula Collective as a creative consultant and assists artists and performers with movement direction and dramaturgy. Nandita has directed singer/songwriter Sabiyha in her music video ‘Bird’ and Mithun Gill in his work ‘Unfold me’ for Emerge Festival 2020.

She has been teaching companies, artists and the wider community of all ages, backgrounds and abilities for over 10 years with dance classes and creative workshops across London, Europe and Asia. She has led classes and workshops for Rambert Professional and Adult Classes, Ballet Black, Alexander Whitley Dance Company, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Dance, Central School of Ballet Adult classes, Edge n’ Pointe Dance Centre, Shiamak Davar Dance Company, Hamara Footpath, Segovia Dance School, World Peace Garden Camden, London Fields Primary School and The Nautical School. Nandita is DBS approved and has an Ofqual accredited qualification in Contemporary Dance from Rambert Grades for Creative dance for early years and Grades 1 – 8. She holds a BA degree in Humanities and Innovation.

As an evolving artist and emerging leader Nandita continues to develop her creative work and teaching practice through ongoing research, collaborations and initiatives.

LEARN MORE ABOUT HER JOURNEY

Nandita Shankardass is a Performing Artist, Choreographer, Educator, Movement facilitator and the Founder of Welcome Movement® She is a Clore Emerging Leader alumni of 2022, an Artist in Residence and Faculty member at Rambert Dance and an Associate Artist at English National Ballet.

Nandita founded Welcome Movement® in 2020 to generate wellbeing, stimulate creativity and empower freedom of expression through movement and dance for individuals, organisations and communities to engage with and explore. She has devised and delivered workshops and performances for Summer on the Square with National Gallery and Design and Dance Family workshops at William Morris Gallery. She has also created tailored experiences for other organisations and spaces including JKS Restaurant group, GuarantCo, Baytree Centre, English National Ballet Youth Co., and Spring Grove Care Home.

Nandita is interested in how the creative and production processes in the arts and culture can generate a sustainable future for the environment, which surrounds us, as well as the inner environment of our body, mind and soul. She is continually driven by the care and compassion she can create and offer in her creative processes and in the participatory experiences and spaces she facilitates. Nandita is passionate about empowering females to rise and follow their creative dreams and visions and aspires to work towards the dance sector becoming welcoming, safe and inclusive to all. She forms part of the EDI working group for Dancers Career Development 2022-2023 and the Artists’ advisory group for Without Walls Consortium 2023-2024.

Born in London, Nandita started learning Ballet at age 4 at the Audrey Joyce School of Dance in North London and went on to train at The Royal Ballet School from the age of 11. From an early age she nurtured a passion for choreography and during her time as a student was awarded The Dame Ninette De Valois Award & The James Monahan Award for her choreographic work. To date, she is one of two females of Indian heritage to have trained at The Royal Ballet School, and went on to become one of the few female professional Ballet dancers of Indian heritage in the world.

Her career has taken her to dance with world-renowned companies; Zürcher Ballet, Victor Ullate Ballet, Ballet Black, Scottish Ballet and Compañia Nacional de Danza, performing across Europe and the U.K and touring internationally in a diverse range of classical and contemporary repertoire by a colourful spectrum of choreographers including George Balanchine, William Forysthe, Jiri Kylian, Ben Stevenson, Uwe Scholz, Ohad Naharin, Lin Hwai-min, Ashley Page, Kryztof Pastor, Jose Carlos Martinez, Richard Alston, Shobana Jeyasingh, Liam Scarlett, Juanjo Arques and Heidi Verthaler and Heinz Spoerli.

Her professional choreographic commissions include ‘Capture’ for Zürcher Junior Ballet in 2006,  ‘Synergy’ for Ballet Black’s Young Choreographers’ showcase in 2011 and ‘Jaane Ajnabee’ for Compania Nacional de Danza’s Young Choreographers’ evening in 2012, whilst a member of these companies. She was commissioned to choreograph and perform for tve Global Sustainability Awards in 2012 in collaboration with Flux with the piece ‘Shadowlines.’ and in 2021 with ‘Everything that touches you, you touch’ in collaboration with poet Sunnah Khan and musician Tommy Khosla. Nandita co – produced and performed in the collaborative work ‘In Other Words’ with Flux and Richard Bermange at Kings Place in 2016. She choreographed and produced the dance film ‘Returns to Nature’ in collaboration with composer Preetha Narayanan and cinematographer Thom Seaman and ‘Dhi Nīla’ in collaboration with Mithun Gill.

Nandita has choreographed the solo work ‘Rainsoaked…’ which she has performed across London in a variety of spaces. She choreographed the duets ‘Lightweight’ for Normansfield Theatre and ‘Umbra’. Nandita has performed in Vidya Patel’s ‘When life gives you melons’ at Sadlers Wells and in ‘Good morning earth’ along with facilitating family workshops at the Tate Modern and has performed with Orchestra Qawwali Project at The Camden Roundhouse. She has collaborated with Sujata Banerjee Dance Company, teaching and performing in their production of ‘Swan Lake’ (retold with Kathak dance). Nandita performed in ‘The Game’ by Hubert Essakow and in ‘Two sides to every swan’ by Joseph Toonga for Family Sunday events at the Royal Opera House. She has performed with Adrian Look Tanztheater in ‘The Art of Failure’ at The Place and performed with Beeja Dance in their production of ‘Choogh Choogh’ created for early years.

Nandita has collaborated with Joss Arnott Dance in Dance:Connects programme for Greenwich Dance’s Arts Unboxed and with Sadlers Wells to co-create Taster Dance workshops for their Take Part online series. She has worked with Fabula Collective as a creative consultant and assists artists and performers with movement direction and dramaturgy. Nandita has directed singer/songwriter Sabiyha in her music video ‘Bird’ and Mithun Gill in his work ‘Unfold me’ for Emerge Festival 2020.

She has been teaching companies, artists and the wider community of all ages, backgrounds and abilities for over 10 years with dance classes and creative workshops across London, Europe and Asia. She has led classes and workshops for Rambert Professional and Adult Classes, Ballet Black, Alexander Whitley Dance Company, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Dance, Central School of Ballet Adult classes, Edge n’ Pointe Dance Centre, Shiamak Davar Dance Company, Hamara Footpath, Segovia Dance School, World Peace Garden Camden, London Fields Primary School and The Nautical School. Nandita is DBS approved and has an Ofqual accredited qualification in Contemporary Dance from Rambert Grades for Creative dance for early years and Grades 1 – 8. She holds a BA degree in Humanities and Innovation.

As an evolving artist and emerging leader, Nandita continues to develop her creative work and teaching practice through ongoing research, collaborations and initiatives.

LEARN MORE ABOUT HER JOURNEY

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