Rita Mitra Mustaphi
Dance
Crystal, MN
Rita Mitra Mustaphi is the recipient of the McKnight Artist & Culture Bearer Fellowship.
Rita Mustaphi is a choreographer, dancer, educator, and a disciple of the legendary maestro, late Pandit Birju Maharaj, in the Kathak style of Indian classical dance. She is known for her visionary approach and innovations in dance, her multi-disciplinary productions incorporating spoken word, live and commissioned music, and the utilization of production elements. Her choreographic work is distinguished by its impeccable technique, its capacity to expand the Indian classical Kathak dance vocabulary and realize new works, and its collaborations across disciplines. She is Founder and Artistic Director of Katha Dance Theatre & School (est. 1987). From 1987 to 2005, while promoting traditional Kathak dance through various dance dramas, she became interested in cross-cultural exploration through collaboration, and that exploration continues. Under her vision and leadership, the company has become renowned for its dynamic productions, distinctive movement style, and technical virtuosity. She has performed from Carnegie Hall, NY, to the Khajuraho Festival in India. Her work, intelligently crafted storytelling, is recognized as being profoundly moving and effortlessly intimate.
Ms. Mustaphi is a recipient of four McKnight Fellowships for choreography, a Leadership award from the Council of Asian Pacific Minnesotans, a Lifetime Achievement award from the India Association of Minnesota, and an Education award from the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in the category of Excellence in Vision.
With a career and a commitment to Kathak dance spanning 36+ years, over 500 performances, and 50+ original choreographic works, she still revels in the process of directing bodies in space, creating movement on her own body, and exploring what “moves” an audience to become engaged emotionally, intellectually, and musically. Her works have been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, Minnesota State Arts Board, The McKnight Foundation, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, and many others. Ms. Mustaphi has been commissioned by the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts and has toured her productions throughout the US, Canada, and India.