Ambika Raina is a choreographer, dance director, and performer in Lenape territory / New York City. After extensive experience as a modern dance performer working with some of the most innovative dance artists in New York, she brings her special gift of storytelling through movement to theatre and film.
She weaves together the experimental foundation and organic vocabulary of modern dance, the playfulness and storytelling of musical theater, and the intricate musicality and rhythms of Indian dance. She’s interested in dance as a cultural, communal act that lifts people up, brings people together, and speaks to real experiences.
Theatre: A Nice Indian Boy (Olney Theatre Center), The Jury (A.R.T.), For Colored Girls (The Public Theater, assisting Camille A. Brown). Workshops: New York, New York (pre-Broadway, assisting Susan Stroman), The Ramayan (Ars Nova).
Original work: NYU Skirball, The Chocolate Factory, Issue Project Room, Movement Research at the Judson Church, Center for Performance Research, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Mana Contemporary in Jersey City, and more.
Ambika earned the 2022 Brooklyn Arts Exchange Space Grant. Her movement direction/choreography is featured in numerous music videos. Ambika was a guest teacher of Contemporary dance at Mark Morris Dance Center for 2 years.
She holds a BFA from University of Michigan - School of Music Theatre and Dance.
photo by Yekaterina Gyadu