Our Artistic Director Krishna is having a proud teacher, parent and director moment – all in one! Her daughter and student Sia, who played Maya in our show Magical Honey, has won the inaugural Ikigai 2024 Festival with a dance piece titled ‘Let’s Reconnect’.

‘Let’s Reconnect’ is a filmed dance piece, which Sia created and performed especially for the festival, merges her passion for dance with her passion for environmental sustainability. Sia blends Bharatanatyam with modern dance style, using poetry and music in the one-minute film.

Sia said, “I called this piece ‘Let’s Reconnect’ as I hope to see future generations of people live a sustainable life and feel at one with nature.”

Judges at the Institute of Civil Engineers-run festival, who included Deborah Meaden from Dragons Den, said they “loved how the video showed the industrial transitioning to nature” and felt it was “an uplifting entry that was made with love.” You can read about all the festival winners on the ICE website.

Sia has been a pupil at Sanskruti Dance School since 2015. We hope Sia’s experience will inspire some of our other young dancers to create and choreograph their own work!