Arno Kamolika (she/her)

Arno is a Bharatnatyam dance artist and instructor based in Vancouver, BC. Born and raised in Bangladesh, Arno’s earlier training started with learning both Manipuri and Bharatnatyam in Chhayanaut (Dhaka) under Sharmila Banerjee, Tamanna Rahman and Belayet Hossain. After 12 years of training in both forms, she consciously chose to devote herself full time to study Bharatnatyam. Her mentorship under eminent guru Professor C.V. Chandrasekhar in Dhaka and Chennai played an instrumental role to deepen her understanding of Bharatnatyam vocabulary. She continues her training in Canada with Jai Govinda and Bragha Bessel, to expand her imagination around technique and abhinaya. A graduate in architecture, she draws from her training of various disciplines like music, mime, theatre, and other dance forms to add layers to her practice and to create an informed artistic narrative. Her rich repertoires have taken her across the globe at various festivals in USA, Germany, India and Bangladesh. In recent years she has performed for Institute of Asian Research, UBC, Simon Fraser University, Transform : A Cabaret Festival by The Cultch, World Rhythm Festival in Seattle, Dance All Sorts by New Works, Dancer’s Transition Resource Centre, Diwali in BC and Vancouver Moving Theatre among many. Dancing and teaching regularly in Dhaka and Vancouver, where the community have limited access to traditional Indian classical dance and are unaware of the cultural aspect of it, have motivated her to seek non-traditional storytelling. She has recently developed a Bharatnatyam theatre on Tagore’s Bengali play Shyama, in an international collaboration with musicians and dancers from Dhaka and Vancouver, which was premiered at The Cultch, Vancouver with the support of BC Arts Council. Arno’s journey is fuelled by a desire to learn and create artistic narratives through embracing and collaborating with artists across discipline and culture and her current internship with Nova Dance is an extension of her aspiration to reinvent herself.

Birthplace: Dhaka, Bangladesh

Training: Bharatnatyam; Manipuri; Uday Shankar style, Mime, Theatre.

Companies: Mandala Arts & Culture, Vancouver Tagore Society, Nova Dance.

Why Nova Dance: Remembering, Processing, Connecting.

My most cherished moment as a dancer is when I am able to embody a character and inhabit a moment with integrity.

I love how dance can connect one, be it a dancer or a viewer, with their deepest self while being very much aware of their surroundings, how it makes the personal universal, and the universal personal.

For Nova Dance: Svāhā (Internship supported by BC Arts Council)