
India

Shakti School of Dance ~ India
A school for the study of Indian Art & Culture:
Indian Classical and Folkloric Dance, Contemporary Fusion Dances and Yoga
Established in 2005
2024 Dance Season!
Join our intensive dance trainings, drop-in classes, special workshops, live concerts, dance festival and more
from February through April in Pushkar...

The School
Shakti School of Dance is a center for the study and practice of traditional Indian dances, yoga and their intrinsic philosophies.
Housed in the Vaishnav temple of Lord Rang Nath Venu Gopal in the holy town of Pushkar, Rajasthan, India, our school offers a contemplative devotional atmosphere. It is a place where artistic and spiritual inquiry is nurtured and reinforced by structured study.
Students from all over the world come to immerse in Rajasthani folk arts and culture through classes, lecture demonstrations and performances. Our diverse curriculum also offers students a chance to drop in to Colleena’s unique Indian Fusion dance classes, or learn from local Kalbeliya dance legends and experience Rajasthani dance.
Our school’s main focus is to promote and preserve Odissi classical Indian dance of the Kelucharan Mohapatra lineage. Imparting rich authenticity through the traditional classroom setup, Odissi students delve into the rigorous training system of Indian classical dance technique, supplemented with deeper studies in Indian aesthetic theory, Vinyasa Krama Yoga and related cultural and philosophical studies. There is an application process for students interested in full time study.
Seasonally, we conduct intensive dance training programs (January through May), and each spring host an annual festival of classical Indian dance and music – The Pushkar Temple Dance Festival

Odissi Intensive Training
The 2024 Dance Season offers 3 sessions of Intensive Odissi Classical Dance Training. Through an application process students are carefully selected to assure the program is the right fit. Our school stresses the rigor and precision of classical Indian dance, the practice and philosophy of yoga, and the rich cultural context which makes Odissi dance unique.
2024 Odissi Intensive Training Dates:
Session #1 – February 12 – March 2, 2024 – Odissi Classical Dance Fundamentals
Session #2 – March 11 – 27, 2024 – Abhinaya & Storytelling
Session #3 ~ March 30 – April 10, 2024 – Odissi Music (guest master teachers), Pallavi & Temple Performance
Registration Now Open!

Indian Fusion Formation
Indian Fusion Formation
Join Colleena’s unique Indian Fusion Formation: A Certified Training Program and cultural immersion at our home school in Pushkar, Rajasthan!
April 14-20, 2024
Registration now open!

Heartbeat of RAjasthan!
A women's day dance festival in Pushkar
*Dance Festival*
From March 5 – 9, 2024 we are bringing together some of the great female dancers and singers of Rajasthan to present Master Classes in:
- Kathak Classical dance
- Contemporary Rajasthani Dance Innovations
- A contrasting variety of Kalbeliya Dancers and Singers
- Kalbeliya Children’s dance education initiative & performance.

Drop-In Classes
February through April we offer drop-in classes in Odissi classical dance, Rajasthani folk dance forms such as Kalbeliya, as well as Indian Fusion Belly Dance, North Indian/ Rajasthani, Indian Aesthetic Theory and other special dance workshops with guest teachers!
Odissi Dance
Kalbeliya Dance
Indian Fusion
THeory Lectures
North Indian





Pushkar temple dance festival
Every spring we host the Annual Pushkar Temple Dance Festival
of classical Indian dance and music.
Please enjoy the video of our past performances

Message from the founder
By honoring the lineages of our dance, as well as the cultural and spiritual traditions deeply embedded within each movement, Shakti School of Dance has become a place known for its disciplined, genuine and reflective atmosphere.
Through our full time dance training at Shakti School of Dance I hope to offer a holistic experience for students to live the path of the artist in every aspect of their life. Students cultivate deep body awareness by reaching for perfection in technique and learning to push their perceived limits. We also place equal importance on “theory studies,” such as associated arts and philosophies, music theory and cultural context. The very source of inner strength is found through meditative concentration and extraordinary effort.
As our school continues to evolve and grow, we find beautiful transformations happening all around us. Kalbeliya dance teachers are developing their skills through interacting with students and we continue to find ways to support their community. Dancers from around the world continue to come, sharing their art forms, learning side by side, and inspiring one another through cultural exchange.
Our vision is to create cultural alliances by bridging ancient and modern, East and West, foreign and local, traditional and innovative… so that culture is celebrated, respected, lived and perpetuated in an uplifting way – as our Gurus have guided us. Odissi as an art form communicates very particular ideas and possibilities. Ideas which appear at first to be culturally specific are in fact human values, emotions and experiences. By sharing the rich cultural heritage preserved inside Odissi’s theory and praxis, we also create more educated audience members (rasikas), thus widening the field and life span of Odissi.


Partnerships & Alliances
Support those who work for heritage preservation and vitality in our community