Barbara Mintz

Barbara Mintz has danced from an early age, studying Western classical dance forms (ballet and modern). Her studies took her to New York where she attended Adelphi University, The Julliard School and Empire State College (SUNY) where she completed her B.S. in Dance Therapy. She also studied improvisation, African dance, yoga, Sacred belly dance, martial arts (Pencak Silat), Balinese dance and Indian dance.

Barbara was drawn to Bali as it was a place where worship through dance was still being performed in the temples. She also knew it to be a place where art, religion, community and life were an integrated whole. She lived there for 10 years, studying Balinese culture and dance and has taught and performed internationally. In Bali, she also developed a Holistic dance technique which combines and integrates all of her studies, to encourage and support awareness, healing, and joy of movement.

After witnessing the divine beauty and transforming power of Odissi dance in the U.S. and Bali, Ms. Mintz was compelled to travel to India. There she lived and studied in Bhubaneswar, Orissa, studying at the Orissa Dance Academy with Guru Gangadhar Pradhan, Yudistir Nayak and members of the Orissa Dance Academy. She is now a student of Sri Manoranjan Pradhan, a leading dancer and teacher from Orissa.

She first saw Odissi dance at the Ethnic Dance auditions in San Francisco danced by a woman who was hard of hearing and later with whom she discussed the relationship between sign language for the deaf (she was an interpreter for the deaf at that time), mudras, and the language of Indian dance. Then she saw Odissi again in Bali danced by Geeta and Ramli from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Moved so much but this spiritual, sensual cosmic dance, she decided at that moment she must go to India and study Odissi.

She then went to Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India and found her way to The Orissa Dance Academy under the direction of Guru Gangadhar Pradhan, where she studied Odissi for six months. She then returned to India again the next year for another six months of study. Since then she has been studying with Sri Manoranjan Pradhan, a devoted and excellent teacher and leading dancer of Orissa. She has also studied with Nandita Behera.

While in India she was inspired by the artwork she saw and made a series of drawings. These I compiled and created DIVINE PLAY, a coloring book for all ages with drawings of some of the Hindu Gods and Goddeses.

For more information regarding Barbara Mintz, please visit her website

Barbara Mintz can be contacted at bhava_dance@hotmail.com