Urvashi Dance Academy

Kakoli Basu, the artistic director and choreographer of Urvashi Dance Academy has been teaching classical, contemporary and folk dances from India, for over 30 years. She is trained in Bharat Natyam and the Uday Shankar style of contemporary dance and has performed at the Indian Embassy in Berlin. Before her move to the US, she travelled to US, Canada, and England and throughout South East Asia performing as a troupe member of the Mamata Shankar Ballet Troupe
Kakoli began her teaching career teaching in Augusta, Georgia, where her students won various awards at competitions and were invited to perform in various cities in US and Canada. In 2006 she moved to Tucson. Her students range from 5 year olds to professionals. Basu and her students have performed for the opening ceremonies of NABC (North American Bengali Conference) in 2002 at World Congress Center in Atlanta, in 2005 in NY at the Madison Square Gardens and 2012 in Las Vegas.
Her students specialize in the classical dance form of Bharatanatyam which originated in southern India in the state of Tamilnadu. The name Bharatanatyam is a simple derivation from the four most important aspects of dance (in Sanskrit). These are: Bha from Bhava meaning emotion, Ra from Raaga meaning music or melody, Ta from Taala meaning rhythm and Natyam meaning dance. Her students perform classical, semi- classical, folk dances from various regions of India, contemporary and Bollywood numbers.