CUNY Dance Initiative to premiere Barkha Patel’s Icchā at Tribeca Performing Arts Center

The CUNY Dance Initiative has announced the premiere performances of barkha patel’s new solo work, icchā. The production runs on September 25 and 26, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, located at 199 Chambers Street in Manhattan. General admission tickets cost $40, while student tickets are available for $30.

icchā is a 60-minute solo piece choreographed and performed by patel, a Princess Grace Award-winning artist. The work draws on the Hindu concept of vasanas, which represents unfulfilled longings passed through bloodlines after physical death. In the piece, patel is visited in a dream by her maternal ancestors, who select her to give form to the unexpressed desires shaped by their experiences with survival, loss, intimacy, violence, and the denial of selfhood.

The performance combines traditional and contemporary kathak with garba, a Gujarati folk form. Original music for the piece was composed by Sushma Soma and Samiullah Khan, and the production features original set design. movement is utilized throughout the work as a mechanism for remembrance, release, and return.

Development of the piece received support through a Princess Grace Foundation Special Projects Grant, a Princess Grace Foundation Dance Award, an AAPI residency with Topaz Arts, and a CUNY Dance Initiative residency at BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center. patel was also named a 2024 NDP Finalist Grant Award recipient through the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, which received funding from the Doris Duke Foundation and the Mellon Foundation.

patel works as a kathak artist, choreographer, educator, and Artistic Director of barkha dance company. She trained under Guru Rachna Sarang and currently continues her training with Swati Sinha and Dheerendra Tiwari. Her past works have been presented at venues including Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out, Little Island, 92Y, and Chelsea Factory.

Her previous recognitions include a 2023 Juried Bessie Award, which led to 2024 tour support from the New York State Dance Force for her work ahaM | Maha. She was also selected as a 2024 Harlem Stage WaterWorks Fellow and has completed residencies with Movement Research, the NYS Choreographic Institute, and Topaz Arts. In 2025, she completed an India tour alongside Tanveer Alam and co-premiered a new work at Toronto’s Fall For Dance North.

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