Ishika
Biswas

I am a Kathak choreographer and performer based in Cardiff, Wales. Twenty years of rigorous training under Guru Sampita Chatterjee in the Lucknow Gharana tradition, and a continuing study with Vidushi Saswati Sen. The form is not a starting point for me — it is a living inheritance I have spent my life inside.

In recent years I have been asking what happens when Kathak leaves the stage and stands in the world as it actually is. I take the tatkaar outdoors, onto grass, into public squares, where the ghungroos compete with wind and the chakkar has no wings to disappear into. The form carries differently in open air. It means something different when there is no proscenium, no darkness, no permission structure of a theatre between the work and the world.

My work sits at the intersection of classical Indian dance form, outdoor contemporary performance, live music, and live visual art. I hold a South Asian sacred geography and Welsh landscape in the same body — because I hold them in my own life. That is where the work comes from.

I have performed across India and the UK, including at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Welsh Parliament, St. Fagans National Museum Wales, Techniquest Cardiff, and Prerona Dance Festival Kolkata. I teach classical Kathak and fusion styles across Cardiff through Kalakrishti Cultural Space.