The Bio

ankita is an experimental movement-based artist and writer invested in storytelling where content dictates genre and betrays expectation. They create to think critically, unpacking systems and symptoms of power from a queer, punk solidarity-based lens that rehearses freedom in the body and mind. In aesthetic, their work is a character-based, grungy, cheeky work of primal spirit, with theatrical practices rooted in Dance-Theater and storytelling forms from both the South Asian and the African diaspora. 

ankita holds degrees in both Dance and Anthropology and is currently based in Brooklyn. They have had their work performed throughout the US and beyond, including at: Denver Art Museum, Abrons Art Center, The Barn at Lee, Dixon Place, Base: Experimental Arts + Space, JACK, Ormao, Movement Research, and more. ankita has received residencies and support from FCA, Art Omi, NYSCA, Brooklyn Arts Council, GALLIM, and The Performance Project, amongst others. In their spare time, they are also a writer for thINKing DANCE and the Critics Lab at The Public. ankita also manages award-winning shows, companies, and organizations – including Punchdrunk's Sleep No More and nationally-recognized Queer|Art – which rounds out their knowledge of the arts industry.  

Their recent projects include: ‘dhoka/Betrayal/,’ which explores idolatry and nationalism using  South-Asian myth in a dance-theater duet; ‘Human, Vermin,’ an in-progress, livestreamed durational exhibition looking at human/animal rights and the politics of disgust; and most recently, the world of puppets, Americana, and Tik Tok with the play, ‘Even Cowboys Get the Blues.’

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Fun Facts

I’m a published primatologist/outdoors author/small-scale arts writer. I enjoy adventure photography, have walked across a couple of countries, climb rocks at great heights, and love on animals and people with abundance. Highly adaptable, observant, and adventurous with a great love of in your face intensity, inappropriate jokes, and napping in the sunshine.

I admire artists who push their own boundaries and aim for longevity in their careers, while still staying curious and challenging their own aesthetics. I aim to do the same. This includes artists and things like Eiko Otake, nora chipaumire, Miasma, Heretic, Punchdrunk, Marina Abramović, climbing, Deftones, Galen Hooks, and animals.