What is Connect N Dance?
Connect N Dance is a dance school and studio in Newton, MA where we teach creative choreography and Indian classical dance – Odissi. This dance school is a unique platform of connectivity that enables people of diverse backgrounds in our neighboring community to connect with one another, through a common thread of love for dance and music. Multiple dance workshops are offered, to introduce participants to creative choreographies and introduce the basics of Indian classical dance – Odissi. The choreographies seamlessly blend Indian dance with international music in enchanting and mesmerizing compositions to unveil the harmony in diverse music across borders.
Registered participants in workshops learn stretching for flexibility, a full creative choreography that uses a variety of Indian dance steps (mix of classical, folk, casual styles) and get introduced to basics of Odissi. At the end of the workshops, friends and family of the participants relish live demonstrations. The dance workshops create the building block for students to join regular classes from Connect N Dance. Participants can get a taste of the lessons through workshops or directly join in for regular weekly lessons.
Our Mission and Impact on Community
At a time when people in our global neighborhood need to find new avenues to value and respect one another irrespective of diversity in race, color, religion and backgrounds, Connect N Dance unites people through the common thread of love of dance and music. This forum thus adds to the cultural vitality, emotional connectivity and inclusiveness in diversity of our neighboring community.
Through dance workshops, participants across culture, color, race or religion learn to appreciate diverse cultures, understand expressions irrespective of languages and dance in sync. We share basic introduction to Odissi and provide English translation for songs used for the choreographies.
Our broader neighborhood community benefits when they relish the recordings of the participants performances or join in for the live shows at the end of the workshops, acting as “allies” as we celebrate inclusiveness in diversity through dance!
Core Team
Sushmita Biswas
A resident of Newton, graduate of MIT, mother of 3 kids, Sushmita is a visionary dancer, artiste & diversity advocate. Extensively trained in Indian classical, creative & folk dance forms from a very early age, Sushmita later went on to leverage dance and art as a way to communicate with her audiences and discuss key issues that are meaningful to people around her. Influenced from an early age by the charitable works of her father, Late. Dr. Bijoy. K Biswas, a notable medical professional, Sushmita find’s meaning in helping people through dance and thus positively impacting her community.
A few of her notable works include lecture demonstrations she conceptualized and conducted at MIT on “Management lessons from Indian classical dance”, choreographies at an international conference on Tagore’s voyages at Harvard, and her performance as part of the Baikali organization in a bilingual professional dance-theater “The Child” in London, UK and India. Sushmita has through the years conducted multiple dance workshops in non-profit organizations and schools for underprivileged women and children in UK and the US. Also memorable is her performance in a BBC educational film “A Candle in the Dark”.
Sushmita is an executive in a financial services firm in the US. When she is not working or dancing, Sushmita may be found immersed in oil and acrylic paintings where she brings to life the colors of nature. Sushmita also enjoys cooking, writing and spending time with her husband Saptarshi and three kids.
Jishnu Ganguly
A Day Middle School student in Newton, MA, a Piano Emerging Artist at All Newton Music School, a Karate Blue belt, a coder and a Math Kangaroo National Level winner, Jishnu is a key contributor to Connect N Dance.
Jishnu has been learning the piano for 8 years and is at the Silver level in the Emerging Artist program. He has been learning Karate for 5 years and is currently a Blue Belt. Jishnu won 1st position in both State and National Levels in 2018 and is also a National Award winner in 2020 at the National Math Kangaroo contest. He won an award at the Speech Team contests in MA in 2019 and also enjoys reading, plays tennis, table tennis and soccer.
As a sensitive and empathetic child, Jishnu cares about bridging gaps to connect with and help people. He created and will maintain the Connect N Dance website. He is contributing to music creation and selection in this effort to connect across cultures and also gathering feedback of participants to help improve the program.
Other Key Contributors
- Dr. Keya Biswas: A doctor and Indian Classical Music specialist, Keya is assisting with identification of music pieces and determining associated aspects such as Tal, Vani etc that are needed for new choreography compositions.
- Saptarshi Ganguly: A management consultant who takes a keen interest in culture and literature, Saptarshi is assisting with financial management, marketing and venue management.
- Prabhu Jayaprakasan: A software engineer, Prabhu is helping with all technical set ups as well as marketing for Connect N Dance.
Connect N Dance: Dance School for Creative Dance and Indian Classical Dance – Odissi.
39 Dexter Road, Newton, MA 02460; Contact: connectndance@gmail.com