Dr Helena Joshi has performed Kathak dance solo at Sangeet Mela twice: first as a Rising Star Award winner in 2014, then as a featured artist in 2015. Now in 2019 she returns to give Padhant (recitation of bols) for her student Ku Saee Sane (Rising Star Award – Kathak dance).

Dr Helena Joshi is a medical doctor by profession and a dancer by passion. Helena is a solo Kathak artist who has performed Kathak recitals with live musical accompaniment in both India and Australia. Previously a dancer of various genres including contemporary, ballet, jazz, tap and Bollywood she developed an intense calling to turn to her Indian roots with a resonance towards Kathak dance. Whilst studying medicine, and during her travels to India, destiny answered her intention by introducing her to Guru Prerana Deshpande, a leading exponent of Kathak dance in India. Helena has learnt dance in a guru-shishya parampara (master-disciple tradition) and with daily ‘riaaz’ and discipline, Kathak soon became her means of artistic expression.

Helena is the creative director of Infinity Kathak, Brisbane’s Premier Kathak Dance Company. Last year Infinity Kathak held a very successful Mehfil “Dancing Aura” featuring international Sarangi player Sangeet Mishra. In 2017, Helena was honoured to host her guru Prerana Deshpande (Pune, India), where Brisbane was fortunate to witness a Kathak Maestro at Queensland Multicultural Centre in Nov 2017 with traditional live music accompaniment. Prior to that Infinity Kathak held “7 Beats and Bells” a highly successful Kathak production in Diwali 2016, at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts. It presented a fusion of Traditional Kathak Dance with a live musical ensemble of Eastern and Western musicians. Helena was the recipient of the inaugural Sangeet Mela Rising Star Awards in 2014, and returned to Sangeet Mela 2015 to perform the feature item after high audience appraisal. Helena has previously performed many full fledged Kathak recitals with internationally acclaimed musicians in Pune, India.

Helena believes that Kathak dance is a field that has exquisite depth. Kathak is a form of mental, physical and emotional discipline which has lead her through a journey of self discovery. It brings ecstatic joy and the art form is the ultimate form of prayer. She finds Kathak a tangible means of exploring both realistic elements of rhythm, grace and expression and abstract elements of time, space and energy. Helena is deeply committed to revive the richness of Kathak, which is gaining increasing popularity, as its dynamism is electrifying to Australian audiences.