Ananya Dance Theatre

MICHHIL AMRA | WE ARE THE PROCESSION, 2023
(photo: Canaan Mattson)

Ananya Dance Theatre is an ensemble company of 
BIPOC women and femme professional dance artists. 

We create original contemporary dance theater 
at the intersection of artistic excellence and social justice. 

We work to dismantle hierarchies and build liberation, inspired 
by the lives and dreams of BIPOC women and femmes around the globe. 

We will celebrate our 20th season in 2025.

Read more about Ananya Dance Theatre's history and aesthetic.

2023 GIVE TO THE MAX GOALS

THRIVE: Greater pay equity and Cost of Living Adjustments for Ananya Dance Theatre's dance artists.

Total costs = $81,000
Funding gap = $50,000

-$800 supports fair wage increase and compensation for 1 dancer for one month
-$200 supports supports fair wage increase and compensation for 1 dancer for a week

SUSTAIN: Free access to primary health care services for all employees of Ananya Dance Theatre.

Funding gap = $5,000

-$432 sponsors one dancer’s health care access for a year
-$216 sponsors one dancer’s health care access for six months
-$36 sponsors one dancer’s health care for one month

Watch a series of short videos about our goals HERE.

Ananya Dance Theatre Values

• Reach Out in Solidarity with Global Liberation Struggles
• Reach In for Intersectional Justice
• Practice with Rigor & Excellence
• Center Interconnected Relationship
• Build Feminist Ensemble 
• Uplift Difference and Aesthetic/Cultural Specificity

We strive to end the violence of racism, casteism, white supremacy, toxic masculinity, Empire, colonization, slavery, genocide, and other aggressions.

We are located on and pay tribute to Mni Sota Makoce, 
the unceded homelands of the Dakote Oyate and the Objibwe peoples. 
We stand in solidarity with Native and Black communities, 
whose land and labor are crucial in sustaining this land on which we dance.

Since June 2018, our convening, teaching, and rehearsal home has been the Shawngram Institute for Performance & Social Justice located on University Avenue (Lexington/Snelling) in St. Paul.