Born in Boston and raised in LA, Anvita Sharma is a company performer and Kathak dance instructor at Kathak Kala Academy. Coming from a family of Hindustani music scholars, she was exposed to various styles of music and dance early on but realized her passion was in Kathak, only as an adult. 

Anvita has been performing for over 25 years and teaching Kathak since 2007 to the LA and Orange County communities. Some of her work has been presented at Bhakti Fest, Shakti Fest, JPL, USC Pacific Asia Museum, Madison Square Gardens, and the Ratha Yatra Festival in Venice Beach. Anvita offers classes in LA, OC, and online. With over 20 years of training in this form of art, her journey continues as a disciple under Guru Rachana Upadhyay in Los Angeles and more recently, Smt. Durga Arya in Germany.  

About the art: Kathak is a 2000-year-old ancient storytelling art form that began as a specialized dance recounting mythological and moral tales from the scriptures, mainly about Lord Krishna and Radha. Embellished with hand gestures and facial expressions, using instrumental and vocal music and stylized gestures to animate the stories, Kathak engages, all parts of the mind, body, and spirit.  Rhythm, mudras, pirouettes, and intricate footwork are at the core of this complex dance form. A trained dancer normally wears 100 bells on each foot.