Tara Catherine Pandeya - DanceVersity Faculty
Tara Catherine Pandeya is trained in multiple dance styles;
ranging from Central Asian, to Middle Eastern, Western
classical jazz-tap and Classical South Indian dance. She
comes from a highly artistic family and is a second
generation dancer; her mother is Barbara Framm a respected
ethnologist, teacher & performer of classical East
Indian dance for over 35 years.
Starting from childhood Tara studied Tap,
Jazz, Ballet, Middle Eastern, Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Tajik,
Afghan, Uzbek, Azeri and Persian dance forms. She has also
been a principle dancer and soloist with Ballet Afsaneh for
over 10 years. In 2002, Tara was chosen as a featured artist
through the California Arts Council's 'Next Generation'
Young and Upcoming Artists Grant program. In 2006, she
traveled to Tajikistan where she worked with the 'Tajik
Dance Initiative Humanities Link' project in the remote
Pamir Mountain city of Khorog. While in Tajikistan, she also
completed an intensive two month dance residency program
last summer with Padida Theater and the world renowned
master artist of Pamiri dance Zaragol Iskandarova. Tara has
traveled to India, the Middle East, Central Asia and Europe
and also has a great passion for linguistics. She holds
Arabic language certificates from 'Alif', the Language
Institute of Fez, Morocco and through Arabic immersion
courses at U.C. Berkeley. She also holds a teaching
credential in English as a Second language. Tara is
currently pursuing her B.A. in international relations and
performing arts through the LEAP (Liberal Arts Education for
Arts Professionals) program at St Mary's College. Most
recently Tara was a featured soloist in the highly selective
for the 2007 season.
Tara currently performs as a soloist and principle
performing artist through out the Bay Area as well as
internationally. She draws upon her diverse dance training
background which spans over 18 years, to instill in her
students a passion for movement and dance technique and an
appreciation for the rich cultural traditions from which
these arts originate.
