Swastik Institute of Dance is Australia’s premier Kathak and Bollywood school, with more than 550 students of all age groups. The institute is located in Harris Park from last 11 years & has opened another state-of-the-art dance studio with gleaming wooden floors, floor-to-ceiling mirrors in Blacktown in March 2018.
In the past 11 years that Swastik Institute of Dance has been operating in Sydney, it has taken Indian classical dance as well and other forms of Subcontinental performing arts to new heights of recognition in Australia.
Established by highly accomplished classical dancer Sumati Nagpal, the institute specialises in teaching Kathak and Bollywood at its Harris Park-based studio. Swastik’s students have been part of many community events all over Sydney and have shared the stage with renowned Bollywood performers such as Sukhvinder Singh, Udit Narayan, Mikka Singh, Shankar Mahadevan and Jazzy B and many more
While Swastik offers Bollywood and Indian-folk dance classes, at its core it is Kathak dance school, following the timeless guru-shishya parampara (student-teach tradition).
Kathak students are introduced to this classical dance form in a traditional manner – irrespective of their age, they’re taught the importance of respecting their teacher as well as the art form. They’re presented with Ghungroos (dancing bells) – a symbol of their spiritual relationship with their teacher. At first they’re taught basic Kathak footwork and hand gestures – a crucial way to give them a strong base. Once the foundation has been laid, the students graduate to more advanced lessons, such as facial expressions, twirls and todas (short choreographic pieces).
Swastik follows these traditions to a T when teaching Kathak, but it also draws on them to a certain extent for other dance disciplines, such as Bollywood and Indian-folk dances, making it not just a dance school, but a purveyor of traditional Indian culture and customs in Australia.
In addition to teaching different dance disciplines, Swastik offers costume and Studio hire services, and runs popular dance group, Swastik Showbuzz, which you can hire for private, corporate or cultural events. The number of dancers and the style of performance depend on your requirements – Swastik can offer anything from solo dances to large-group performances, from traditional/classical Indian shows to contemporary acts.
To boost students’ confidence and to keep them engaged, Swastik organises stage shows. Titled Swastik Showcase , the shows are held three times a year in a professional theatre space and gives all Swastik students a chance to perform on stage and get used to live shows.
Once each year, Swastik Institute of Dance produces a major Theatre Show in a professional space such as Riverside Theatre in Sydney’s Parramatta.