KASSIYET
Founder & Artistic Director
Kassiyet is a Bharatanatyam artist, educator and the Founder and Artistic Director of Kassiyet Arts. Born and raised in Almaty, Kazakhstan, she began studying Indian classical dance at the age of six, beginning a relationship with Bharatanatyam that would eventually take her from Central Asia to India, Europe and the United States.
Her early training began at the Indian Cultural Centre in Almaty. At seventeen, Kassiyet moved to India to pursue Bharatanatyam full-time and was awarded a scholarship by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) for advanced training in New Delhi. She trained at Ganesa Natyalaya under Padma Bhushan Dr. Saroja Vaidyanathan, spending her formative professional years immersed in the practice, performance and study of Bharatanatyam. In 2012, she completed her arangetram under Dr. Saroja Vaidyanathan at the India International Centre in New Delhi.
AN INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE PRACTICE
Kassiyet began performing professionally in India in 2010, appearing in the Opening Ceremony of the XIX Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. During the years that followed, she performed extensively across India at festivals, cultural institutions and theatres, including Kamani Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, Mahabalipuram Dance Festival, Kalidasa Festival, Sri Krishna Gana Sabha and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, among others.
In 2015, she was selected to present a solo Bharatanatyam margam at the Spirit of Youth Festival of The Music Academy, Madras, an important platform for emerging Indian classical artists. That year also marked the beginning of her professional performance work in the United States, with a Bharatanatyam performance in Washington, D.C.
"I dreamed of learning dance in India. It became one of the greatest gifts of my life."
- Kassiyet
Spirit of Youth Festival, The Music Academy, Chennai, 2015.
From 2017 onward, Kassiyet's work expanded across Europe, with performances and teaching engagements in Hungary, the United Kingdom, Austria, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Latvia and Estonia. She presented solo Bharatanatyam performances at the Amrita Sher-Gil Cultural Centre in Budapest and The Nehru Centre in London, performed alongside Dr. Saroja Vaidyanathan in the United Kingdom and Austria, and presented work at The Tagore Centre in Berlin. Her European practice also included workshops and masterclasses for dancers in Portugal, Latvia and Estonia.
COMPANY & COLLABORATIVE WORK
After establishing her professional base in the United States, Kassiyet became part of the Indian classical dance community in California while continuing her independent performance and teaching practice.
Between 2021 and 2024, she danced with San Jose based Abhinaya Dance Company, performing in company productions and Bay Area presentations, including the San Francisco International Arts Festival. Her U.S. work during this period also included performances in Atlanta, Palo Alto, New York, alongside workshops and mentoring engagements with dancers and dance schools across the country. Her performance record documents Abhinaya engagements beginning with the company's 40th anniversary in 2021 and subsequent performances in San Jose.
In 2024, Kassiyet performed with Ragamala Dance Company in Avimuktha at Lincoln Center in New York City.
TEACHING & ARTISTIC PRACTICE
Kassiyet began teaching Bharatanatyam in New Delhi in 2011 while continuing her own intensive training and performance career. Over the years, her teaching practice has developed across regular classes, private training, workshops, masterclasses, intensives and longer-format artistic programs in India, Europe and the United States.
Her approach to training has been shaped by more than two decades of sustained Bharatanatyam practice and by experiencing the form across different teachers, countries, stages and cultural environments.
At the center of her pedagogy is the belief that training must extend beyond the accumulation of choreography. Technique, rhythm, musicality, repertoire and performance are developed together, with increasing emphasis placed on interpretation, artistic responsibility and the dancer's ability to make informed choices within the classical form.
For Kassiyet, the long-term purpose of training is not simply to teach dancers more material, but to develop artists capable of continuing to question, refine and deepen their practice independently.
“Dance gave me a language, a discipline and a life. Teaching is my way of sharing that gift with someone else.”
- KASSIYET
TRAINING & EVOLVING PRACTICE
INDIAN CULTURAL CENTRE, EMBASSY OF INDIA
Almaty, Kazakhstan · 1998–2010
Early training in the Kalakshetra style of Bharatanatyam
↓
GANESA NATYALAYA
New Delhi, India · 2010–2017
Advanced training in the Tanjavur style under Padma Bhushan Dr. Saroja Vaidyanathan
ICCR Scholarship, Government of India
↓
CONTINUING ADVANCED STUDY
USA & International · 2017–Present
Continued study across Bharatanatyam traditions alongside an evolving professional practice in performance and pedagogy. Current exploration also includes classical ballet and contemporary dance, expanding movement awareness and deepening the physical vocabulary through which Kassiyet approaches Bharatanatyam.
FOUNDING KASSIYET ARTS
Kassiyet founded Kassiyet Arts to give this evolving practice a larger institutional home.
Based in New York, Kassiyet Arts brings together a performing company and academy within an evolving structure dedicated to Bharatanatyam performance, rigorous training and long-term artistic development.
The organization grew from Kassiyet's experience across more than two decades of training, performing and teaching, and from her belief that dancers benefit from an artistic environment extending beyond the practice of a single teacher.
As Founder and Artistic Director, Kassiyet shapes the artistic direction of the organization, oversees its training philosophy and continues to teach and mentor dancers within the Academy.
Her vision for Kassiyet Arts is rooted in both continuity and growth: to engage deeply with the rigor, musicality and expressive possibilities of Bharatanatyam while creating the structures through which dancers can develop meaningful artistic lives.
SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS
25+ YEARS
Bharatanatyam practice
SINCE 2011
Teaching Bharatanatyam
300+
Documented performances and artistic engagements
INTERNATIONAL PRACTICE
Across India, Europe, Central Asia and the United States
