-
THE COMPANYRovaco Dance Company was founded in New York City in 2015 by Rohan Bhargava. We produce genre-defying multidisciplinary work, transforming quotidian gestures into embodied movement to unearth the cathartic in the everyday. Our contemporary productions blend Eastern and Western forms, including Bollywood, Bhangra, ballet, street jazz, floorwork, contemporary dance, and Indian street-theater.
Rovaco has been supported by Provincetown Dance Festival, Battery Dance Festival, Little Island NYC, Movement Research at Judson Church, CUNY Dance Initiative, Sam Houston State University, Mannes School of Music, Mare Nostrum Elements, NYU Production Lab, and The Dance Gallery Festival. Grants have come from Brooklyn Arts Council, Dance/NYC, Brooklyn Org, Danse Mirage Foundation, Asian American Arts Alliance, and New York State Council on the Arts.
THE MISSION
Rovaco's work centers queerness and Indianness, both celebrating and critically interrogating the practice of these identities. Through open dialogue and a collaborative process, we empower queer, South Asian, BIPOC, immigrant, and contemporary artists to research sex and sexuality, relationships dynamics, addiction under capitalism, gender and cultural norms, and the vestiges of colonial oppression.
-
In today's politics, when our identities are being weaponized, used to divide us, incite wars, and justify genocide, we feel that is insufficient to honor culture and heritage without honest reflection. Rovaco strives to expose harmful practices, uplift underrepresented voices, and facilitate authentic cultural exchange, allowing audiences to examine their own embodiments of culture, and how they interact with those of others.
Since 2018, we have produced the Rovaco Dance Party, an annual event that combines contemporary performance with Indian hospitality. At the event, guests are served complimentary Indian snacks and drinks, tied Kalava threads (a Hindu ritual we've reframed as a secular gesture of welcome), and immersed in music, scent, and vibrant decor before experiencing in-the-round performances. In 2026, this event will expand into a two-day offering, rebranded as the Rovaco Dance Festival.
Most broadly, Rovaco seeks to increase viewership and appreciation for contemporary performing arts. By striking a balance of rigor and accessibility, we hope to bring disparate communities together to ignite vital social, cultural, and political discourse.