About Us

Ishami is a South Asian Contemporary Dance Company driven by innovation. Our work exists at the intersection of commercial and experimental, traditional and modern – blending South Asian dance forms with global movement vocabularies to create experiences that are culturally grounded and artistically expansive.

We create live performances, digital works, touring productions, intimate experiences that explore identity, human connection, and evolving cultural narratives. Beyond performances, we cultivate community through classes, workshops and conventions, featuring local, national and international dance educators.

Founded in the San Francisco Bay Area by Amit Patel and Ishika Seth.

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Mission Statement

Ishami’s Mission is to explore, unite and amplify the diverse voices, stories, and histories of the South Asian diaspora through the performing arts. Though movement, and artistic collaboration, we create spaces where culture meets innovation, sparking reflection, dialogue, and connection.

Using the idiom of South Asian Contemporary dance, we tread the line between traditional and modern - honoring heritage while embracing experimentation, complexity, and new ways of storytelling, centering queer narratives, women’s voices and diasporic experiences. We aspire to showcase the beauty, depth, and immense range of South Asian contemporary movement with audiences locally and across the globe.

We value individuality and cultural exchange, fostering environments where artists can create boldly and authentically. Through our work, we strive to challenge inherited narratives, build bridges across cultures, and create art that is both elevated and thought-provoking.

Meet the Founders

Amit Patel & Ishika Seth have been creating work and performing together for over a decade. Ishami stems from their vision to center South Asian diasporic experience through a queer, feminist lens, through contemporary dance art. Ishami is an evolution of their work and a structure to support it in this next phase. They are inspired to create a space where dancers can develop their own individuality, build community and share authentic stories.

Work Highlights:

Audience's Choice Award for “Broken Memories'' at SJDanceCo.’s ChoreoProject Awards in 2016 at San Jose State University.
First place for their self-shot digital dance project “Fragments'' for Nrittam 2020, hosted by Urshilla Dance Company in India.
First South Asian group on the Pride Mainstage as part of Parivar Bay Area.
Evening length show “Unearthed-Untold Stories of the Ramayana,” at the ODC Theater in 2022.

Ishika Seth (she/her)

Amit Patel (he/him)

Ishika Seth (she/her) is a choreographer, dancer, dance educator and writer. Her work is rooted in storytelling, dismantling social constructs and embracing the intersection of various global dance forms that exist within her body. Through her art, she reflects and questions, celebrates and shatters various aspects of the world around us. Her work centers women’s voices and stories.

She has been a professional dance artist since 2007, self-producing work at festivals, choreographing stage and digital work, dance tours, and self-producing shows. She has a B.A. in Dance from San Jose State University.

She has been a choreographer for theatrical productions produced by San Jose Lyric Opera, Aurora Theater in Berkeley, San Francisco State University, Stanford Savoyards, Chthonic Theater in Oakland and Artistes Unlimited in India.

She studied Indian Contemporary Dance & jazz in India and was a part of Santosh Nair’s company Sadhya. She studied Mayurbhanj Chhau with Guru J. J. Sai Babu and yoga and movement in her childhood years with her grandmother, who was an attendee of the Uday Shankar School of Dance in Almorah, India.

She was the Assistant Artistic Director of the Mona Khan Company from 2011-2021and danced with Noorani Dance for a season.

Amit Patel, a native of Fremont, CA, is a dancer, choreographer, teacher and creative director living in the San Francisco Bay Area.

As a first-generation born Indian-American, he strives to fuse his cultures, combining his Indian culture and global training to explore Indian Contemporary dance movement. He is notable for his rebellious pieces in heels which challenge the norms of sexual identity and gender expression in dance.

He has taught and performed internationally, for the Nordic largest Indian Dance Festival in Tampere, Finland; as well as in England, Spain, France, Greece, Canada and India.

His dance training consists of jazz, ballet, Bollywood/Indian Fusion, and extensive training in contemporary and modern dance.

His professional stage experience includes 10+ years as a dancer, choreographer, and teacher at the Mona Khan Company, 6+ years with Bliss Dance Company, and a performance season with Pietre Dance Theater in Los Angeles.

As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, his work in is rooted in exposing communities to different types of queerness and deconstructing gender roles and identity in the arts. He is dedicated to creating safe spaces for dancers and bringing forth marginalized stories through his work.

Meet the Artists