31 Dec Heena Patel
A dancer, singer, and storyteller, Heena (she/her) Patel’s artistry is deeply rooted in her rich heritage as a 2nd generation Indian immigrant. Born into a family from Gujarat in northwestern India and raised in the Gujarati community in Toronto, Heena has been intimately connected with her cultural roots since childhood. Her artistic expression is informed by her ancestral tapestry of Gujarati folk dance (garba) and music, intertwined with the rhythmic energy and expressive storytelling of Bollywood dance and music.
Teaching and sharing Indian arts and culture for nearly 3 decades, Heena brings people, ranging from pre-K children to the elderly, into a world where Indian culture in its vibrancy and complexity are brought to life.
Heena’s journey over the past decade has been of reclamation and remembering. Garba (Indian folk dance), Indian music, and nervous system healing have been the vehicles to reconnect with her body, her intuition, and her lineage after trauma and abuse.
She brings together her ancestral arts with somatic work and years of experience as an entrepreneur, arts worker, and creative to support artists, business owners, and women of the global majority to build a life and career that is body-led.
Heena will be sharing garba, an ancestral dance dedicated to the Divine Feminine, in Garba Dance Alchemy: Circling the Center.
