Ishita Mili is a Bengali American director and choreographer based in New Jersey. She is earliest captured dancing at the age of 2, twirling with a yellow blanket in her living room. Ishita soon began formal training in bharatanatyam under Smt. Sudha Devulapalli and Indian contemporary fusion under Kolkata-based Sukalyann Bhattacharya. She won various awards throughout her childhood as a bharatanatyam soloist and performed internationally for movies, music videos, and shows through Sukalyann Dance Entourage. After becoming established in Indian dance forms, she broke out of the boundaries of traditional dance and auditioned for UFP Hip Hop Dance Co., performing and choreographing with them from ‘14-’18. She was awarded the Folk Arts Apprenticeship grant in ‘21 from the NJ State Council of the Arts to study Mayurbhanj chhau under Sri Rakesh Sai Babu, world-renowned performer and descendent from a royal lineage of chhau practitioners. Her mentors include Monica Kapoor, Sumeet Nagdev, Cyrus Khambatta, Preeti Vasudevan, and Mecnun Giasar.
After extensively studying a variety of dance styles, Ishita ventured into creating and directing as a holistic multidisciplinary artist. In 2017, Ishita founded IMGE Dance LLC as a performance company based in dance, film, and music that uses mixed cultural roots to share global stories with artists of diverse backgrounds. Over the last 6 years, IMGE has built bridges across concert, commercial, musical theater, academic and independent industries through their unique intersection between bharatanatyam, hip hop, chhau, and contemporary.
Concert: IMGE has performed repertoire at the New Victory Theater (NYC), Battery Dance Festival (NYC), Kala Ghoda Arts Festival (Mumbai), Seattle International Dance Festival, and Lincoln Center Out of Doors (NYC).
Commercial: Ishita has created and performed in choreography for music videos and live concert work for artists including J Balvin, Badshah, Keala Settle, Kahani, Sunken Cages/Ravish Momin, Bickram Ghosh, SANJ, and more. IMGE is also a reoccuring guest performer for IndoWarehouse.
Theater: Ishita co-choreographed for “HAIR,” the rock musical, directed by Josh Rhodes at Asolo Repertory Theater (FL), associate choreographed “Broadway Bares: Pleasure Park,” (Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC), and movement directed “The Sitayana,” directed by Sarah Shin (“The Tank,” NYC).
Film: Their experimental short film, A Prayer, was awarded “Best Experimental Film” at White Unicorn IFF and finalist at the Asian Cinematography Awards, amongst the 8 other international film festival selections.
Academia: Ishita has taught IMGE’s signature approach to hybridizing movement in guest workshops at Duke University, Northeastern University, Rutgers University, Monmouth University, and joins faculty at Princeton University’s dance program as a guest choreographer in their Fall ‘23 semester.
Ishita was featured in Pulse Magazine UK, Dance Informa, and Pyragraph as a rising South Asian artist, and won an award for Artist of Exceptional Merit from the Asian American Arts Alliance ‘23.
EDUCATION/Roles
Student // Sri Rakesh Sai Babu (Mayurbhanj chhau) // Virtual, 2020-2023
Staff // Mecnun Giasar’s Madman Global Program // Virtual, 2020-2021
Company Dancer // Preeti Vasudevan, Thresh Dance // NYC, 2017-2021
Scholarship Student // Sumeet Nagdev Dance Arts (Indian contemporary) // Mumbai, 2017
Student // Smt. Sudha Devulapalli, Kalanjali School of Dance (bharatanatyam) // NJ, 2003-2017
Assistant Director // Sukalyann Dance Entourage (manipuri, odissi, chhau, bharatanatyam, contemporary fusion) // Kolkata, Canada, USA, 2011-2017
Company Dancer // UFP Dance Company (hip hop, popping, house, dance hall) // NJ, 2013-2018
Certificate in Dance Education, Choreography, and Business // Dancing to Connect Institute, Battery Dance // NYC, 2016
Masters in Business and Science // Rutgers University // NJ, 2017-2019
