nova bhattacharya (she/her)

Nova Bhattacharya is a groundbreaking and award-winning dancer, choreographer and cultural leader based in Toronto, Canada. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of Nova Dance, established in 2008. Her dance works breathe rich life into the world of contemporary Canadian dance.

For over 20 years, Bhattacharya has been crafting vivid images that invite the viewer on a journey of heart and mind. Integrating improvised movement and gesture, she is inventing a language that needs no translation. Her curiosities and collaborative spirit have led to a body of work widely recognized for its craft, use of space, subtlety of gesture and accessibility to audiences.

She uses the movement, recitation, theatre, and mathematically complex rhythms of Bharatnatyam and she’s always been a rebel, reinterpreting traditions to tell new stories. Throughout her career she's embraced multiple influences and her studies of Butoh, folk dance and Western dance practices have impacted her outlook.

Born in Halifax in 1968 and raised in Toronto, Bhattacharya trained in Bharatnatyam from the age of seven with Dr. Menaka Thakkar, an internationally renowned dancer, choreographer and teacher. She undertook specialized study of the Indian dance technique Abhinaya with the late and notable teacher Smt Kalanidhi Narayanan, and a select repertoire with the legendary Guru Kittappa Pillai, and fellow Canadian dance artist, and scholar Hari Krishnan.

Her career as an independent artist includes performances with many companies, including Peggy Baker Dance Projects, Compagnie Flak and Fujiwara Dance Inventions.

Eager to explore the scope for innovation within Bharatanatyam technique Bhattacharya began choreographing in 1997. Her critically acclaimed works have been presented across Canada, in Germany, India, Japan, the United Kingdom and Uganda.

Her choreography has been commissioned by DanceWorks, Blue Ceiling Dance, Canada Dance Festival, Cahoots Theatre, Dusk Dances, Tarragon Theatre, Toronto Dance Theatre, Theatre Direct Canada and Dancemakers.

Her 2000 solo Maskura, featured in Series 8:08 and Volcano Theatre’s Short Stuff was presented by the Canada Dance Festival. Recognized for its signature vocabulary and ground breaking approach to fusing Bharatnatyam’s abstract and abhinaya techniques, it established Bhattacharya as a bold new voice on the Canadian scene. The first of several collaborations with composer Ed Hanley, they have produced many outstanding works including Metamorphine (2002), Isolated Incidents (2010), *Infinite Storms (2016) and the short film Ritual Traces (2018)

Dancer and choreographer Louis Laberge-Côté has been a collaborator for two decades, their 2013 work Akshongay combines a hybrid physical vocabulary and theatrical sensibility to create a hypnotic journey of two compelling creators and performers.

In 2007 she created Related Fragments for Toronto Dance Theatre’s Four at the Winch program. The work was admired for its rigour of construction, as well as its precise and detailed vocabulary for the nine dancers. In 2009 she was invited into residency by Dancemakers (Artistic Director Michael Trent) and in 2011 was commissioned by the company to create Red & Yellow. This quintet was hailed for its visual impact as a living painting of vibrant colours and was restaged by Toronto’s Citadel & Compagnie in 2019.

In 2017 she presented Infinite Storms featuring a cast of performers with training in Bharatnatyam and Euro-American dance techniques. The work invites the audience to consider one of the most common, and universal human experiences – pain. In exchange, it offers images of hope, joy, and resilience.

Her current artistic focus is the creation of a new large scale work titled Svāhā. This contemporary piece is inspired by women, rituals of life and love, birth and death, and the way women come together to create community. A vibration of faith, a sharing of joy, and ultimately a danced offering to this land. A feminist approach to reinventing tradition; Svāhā is a ritual for our times. Svāhā is intended for premiere in Toronto in 2021.

Bhattacharya is the recipient of multiple awards for artistic achievement and for contributions to community: the Dancing Damsels Inc. “Women Achiever” Award (2019), the Pink Attitude “Game Changer” Award (2018), the Summerworks Outstanding Direction Award for Broken Lines (2016), the Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award for outstanding artistic achievement in dance (2012), and the Manasumanjali Award for Dance (1997). She’s also received multiple nominations from the Dora Mavor Moore Awards, the K.M. Hunter Artist Awards and in 2021 the Eldred Family Dance Award.

An active member of the Canadian arts community, Nova Bhattacharya is a writer, consultant, mentor and a regular participant in seminars and panels concerning issues around dance, art, diversity and inclusion.

As an artist Nova Bhattacharya believes dance and art serve an invaluable purpose in making the world a better place, and have the incredible power to bring us all together.