Seema Kaushik Mehta (born c.1976) is an Indian

Kathak ''Kathak'' is one of the eight major forms of Classical Indian dance, Indian classical dance. Its origin is attributed to the traveling bards in ancient northern India known as ''Kathakar'' ("storyteller"), who communicated stories from the ...

expert and designer of jewellery. She received the

Nari Shakti Puraskar The Nari Shakti Puraskar () is an annual award given by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the Government of India to individual women or to institutions that work towards the cause of women empowerment. It is presented by the presi ...

award for her dancing advocacy in 2019 after working with under-privileged children in Mumbai.

Life

Seema Mehta dances for LeelaDanceCollective

She was born in about 1976 and she studied at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco. She became a

Chitresh Das Chitresh Das (Devanagari: ) (9 November 1944 – 4 January 2015) was a classical dancer of the North Indian style of Kathak. Born in Calcutta, Das was a performer, choreographer, composer and educator. He was instrumental in bringing Kathak to ...

disciple in 2010 and followed his ideas until his death in 2015. She trained with him and would perform his style of dancing in India. She and Pandit Das founded the second branch of his school in India, Chhandam Nritya Bharati, in Mumbai in 2010. Mehta's mentor had taught Kathak dance to the children of sex workers in Calcutta to help them break free of the cycle of exploitation. Mehta was given the

award on

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March, commemorating women's fight for equality and liberation along with the women's rights movement. International Women's Day gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive righ ...

in 2019. 1000 women were nominated for the award and 44 were chosen to receive it. She was chosen because of her work with under-privileged children in Mumbai. They were learning to dance, but also to assert themselves.

Maneka Gandhi Maneka Gandhi (also spelled Menaka; ''née'' Anand) (born 26 August 1956) is an Indian politician, animal rights activist, and environmentalist. She served as a member of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament, and is a member ...

was at the ceremony and spoke about the ambition of women in India. Mehta appeared with American

tap dance Tap dance (or tap) is a form of dance that uses the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion; it is often accompanied by music. Tap dancing can also be performed with no musical accompaniment; the sound of the taps is its ow ...

r Jason Samuels Smith. Samuels Smith had previously toured with her mentor. Kathak and tap dancing complement each other as both use the feet with the major difference being footwear as Kathak is done bare foot.

Jewelry

Mehta runs a school Chhandam Nritya Bharati and is still involved in jewelry design. She says that jewellery design and dance are both part of her life. She is the creative director in her family's jewellery business.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehta, Seema Living people Kathak exponents Indian dance teachers Indian female classical dancers 21st-century Indian women artists 21st-century Indian dancers Year of birth missing (living people) Nari Shakti Puraskar winners