icchā / desire by barkha patel

TOPAZ ARTS hosts an intimate showing of icchā / desire, a new work by barkha patel, AAPI Dance Artist-in-Residence.

In Hindu philosophy, vasanas are unfulfilled longings that survive the death of the physical body, passed down through bloodlines as living, present icchā / desire.

icchā is a new interdisciplinary solo kathak work weaving original music, film, set design, and garba. Set in Gujarat, barkha, a daughter whose path has diverged dramatically from her lineage, is visited by her maternal ancestors in a dream. They choose her to express, release, and fulfill their desires: born from survival, loss, intimacy, violence, and the denial of dance and embodied selfhood.

icchā is meant to be a somatic shraadh, an ancestral reverence. The work confronts the body as a site of ancestral history, creating space within it to welcome unnamed matriarchs to breathe again and to ask oneself what in their body might be their unfinished reaching?

barkha patel is a TOPAZ ARTS 2025–26 AAPI Dance Artist-in-Residence, a program which supports and celebrates new works by Asian American and Pacific Islander dance artists, made possible by TOPAZ ARTS, Inc. in part with funds from the NYS DanceForce, a partnership program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.

About the Artist:

barkha patel is a touring kathak artist, choreographer, educator and Artistic Director of barkha dance company. She has trained in kathak with Guru Rachna Sarang and continues her training with Swati Sinha and Dheerendra Tiwari.

barkha’s work has been presented at venues such as Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out, Little Island, 92Y, and Chelsea Factory among others. barkha has been recipient of the 2023 Juried Bessie Award through which she received support from the New York State Dance Force in 2024, to tour a full-evening work ahaM | Maha to the Reg Lenna Center, 171 Cedar Arts, and Rochester University.

barkha was awarded the Princess Grace Dance Award ‘24, selected as a finalist for NEFA’s NDP Finalist 24, and was a Harlem Stage WaterWorks Fellow ‘24. She has been a recipient of residencies with Movement Research, NYS Choreographic Institute, and TOPAZ ARTS. She completed her first India tour in 2025 in collaboration with Canadian based kathak artist Tanveer Alam presenting at venues such as Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Center in Mumbai, India Habitat Centre (Delhi), Medai (Blr), Hyderabad Literature Festival and Aadhyam Textiles (Hyderabad). barkha and Tanveer recently premiered a new work for Toronto’s Fall For Dance North.

Photo: Jimmy Chen