Kim Engel, Ivan Sygoda, 2025-2026

Bringing Barkha Patel Back to the Capital Region

Year: 2025-2026
DanceForce Member: Kim Engel
Partnering DanceForce Member: Ivan Sygoda
Artist: Barkha Patel
Community Partners: Cohoes School District; Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company; Russell Sage College Dance Program; Schenectady City School District; Skidmore College Department of Dance; Union College Department of Theatre and Dance, Schenectady
Audience: 780
Counties: Albany, Schenectady

In March 2025, members Kim Engel & Elena Mosley arranged outreach for Juried Bessie award winner Barkha Patel in Cohoes, Troy and Hudson in relation to a Capital Region performance. The residency was so successful that Barkha will return to the Capital Region on three occasions in the first half of 2026.

In February, Barkha will perform in Union College’s Yulman Theatre. In a related project by member James Lemons, she will perform in Lake Placid in March. Both shows will feature live music and likely will showcase a new evening length work. Surrounding the two performances, she will conduct the following outreach in the Capital Region:

  • a series of master classes for dance students at Schenectady High School
  • a day at an elementary school in Albany County which will include a performance for the entire student body along with workshops for 5th grade students
  • master classes for dance majors and minors at Skidmore College in Saratoga and Russell Sage College in Troy

Interest is being generated at several other educational institutions so ultimately there may be more outreach added to the list.

In addition, Barkha is being commissioned to create a new work for the Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company, a modern dance company based in the Capital Region. The work will premiere at The Egg in Albany on May 2, 2026. That evening, Barkha will discuss the new work in a pre-show talk with the company’s Artistic Director.

Overall, Barkha’s multiple visits to the Capital Region will put her in direct contact with over 700 community members from elementary school age through senior citizens.

The outreach in 2025 had a profound effect on Barkha who said, ““In a time where funding for the arts has been extremely uncertain, I am doing things I have always dreamt of doing – touring my works (with live music!), teaching kathak in various schools, and connecting with new audiences and communities. In the packed residency days in Hudson/Capital Region, I made new connections and was asked questions about kathak in a way I have not been. It made me think about how I really talk about my form to those who are engaging with it for the first time, what I should begin and end with in a workshop, and how I can offer a lasting connection to the form.”

The 2026 residency will extend her reach and enable the Capital Region community many more interactions with her form.