Company
Karishma Sharma
Founder & Artistic Director
Karishma is a performer, choreographer and dance educator in the Bay Area for 20 years. She was a professional company member with Shiamak Davar Institute of Performing Arts, Mumbai for 10 yrs. She founded Monsoon Dance Company (MDC) & School in 2017 and teaches at the studio in Palo Alto.
Karishma has a degree in Computer Science, Information Systems and an MFA in Dance, Creative Practice.
Karishma trained in the Lucknow Gharana style of Kathak for 15+ yrs starting with Kadamb Center of Dance Kumudini Lakhiaji’s school in Ahmedabad, India, and on-going with her disciples: Prashant Shah, Urja Thakore (Pagrav Dance Co) and Sanjukta Sinha and has performed their works. In the bay area, she learnt under Smt. Anuradha Nag, disciple of Birju Maharaj and has performed in her works.
Karishma performed at the New York Kathak Festival in 2023 with Prashant Shah & Dancers.
She studied contemporary dance techniques of Limon Dance, Laban and Release Technique at Saint Mary’s College.
Karishma’s notable full length choreographic works include “Shifting Boundaries: Conversations with Kathak” premiered in San Francisco in 2022. Her second new work “Finding my Dha” is coming up on Sept 19-21 ODC.
She has also created Dance Films and collaborates with other Classical Musicians from different genres.
Karishma currently teaches Classical Kathak classes at her school in Palo Alto where she encourages dancers to think anatomically through their bodies, explore self-expresssion through story telling and improvisation.
Her school has organized Kathak Student recitals every 1.5 yrs showcasing classical Kathak and contemporary works.
Ruchi Gupta
Company Member/Instructor & Production Manager
Ruchi is a dance artist based in Mountain View and is a technical program manager at Stripe. She trained in Tap dance for 15 years. Ruchi joined the Monsoon Dance Company and trained in Kathak Lucknow Gharana for 7 years under Karishma. She teaches Kathak classes to beginning and intermediate students and performs for the Company in Classical and Contemporary works.
Ruchi’s notable performances are the dance film “Roshay Series Part 1”, “Shifting Boundaries: Conversations with Kathak” in 2022 and CA Dances Festival, CDEA in 2023 and Rhydhun 2024 Spring Student Showcase.
Ruchi wears the Production Manager hat for Monsoon Dance productions and is excited to perform in the company’s second evening length work coming up at ODC Theater – Finding my Dha.
Poonam Singh
Company Member
Poonam is an advanced student and company dancer at Monsoon Dance Company and a Design Engineering Director at Broadcom.
She trained in Kathak for 10 yrs at the Chitresh Das Institute in the Bay Area. In 2022 she joined Monsoon Dance Company to continue her Kathak practice. She performed with Monsoon at the CA Dances Festival, CDEA in Jan 2023, the Rhydhun 2024 Spring Showcase, Redwood City, Karishma’s MFA Thesis Concert in June 2025 and is excited to perform in her first evening length work with the company “Finding My Dha”.
Maxine Flasher-Düzgüneş
Company Member
Maxine is a poet, filmmaker, and dance artist from Mill Valley, CA. She holds a BFA in Dance from NYU Tisch and an MA in Dance Philosophy & History from the University of Roehampton, London. While in New York, she danced in the works of contemporary choreographers Sidra Bell, Lar Lubovitch, Wayne McGregor, and Trisha Brown.
Maxine collaborated with Karishma to teach a combined Kathak and Contemporary dance workshop at Monsoon Dance Studio and ROCO Dance Studio. She filmed Karishma’s dance film A Leaf Falls (2021) and performed in Karishma’s first full length evening work “Shifting Boundaries: Conversations with Kathak (2022). She is looking forward to performing in Monsoon Dance Company’s second project “Finding My Dha.”
