PERFORMERS
Jahidah Diaab (she/her), is founder of The Blended Garden and teaching artist with 25+ years of experience in early childhood development. Jahidah empowers educators and inspires young minds through the power of art and diversity. Her college presentations, webinars, and workshops focus on teaching educators how to create inclusive spaces for neurodivergent, gifted, and all preschool children. Author of the acclaimed book and stage play, The Blended Garden, Jahidah brings her passion for arts-based learning to organizations worldwide. Join her mission to cultivate belonging and creativity! theblendedgarden.org
Donna Jean Fogel (she/her) is an actor, director, and teacher with a background in Physical Theater. Recent projects include directing a 3-person play, In Between Us (NYC) and Tiny Beautiful Things (Boise Contemporary Theater). She also played Masha in Vanya, Sonya, Mash and Spike, and played lead in interactive play Every Beautiful Thing (River Rep Theatre, Delaware Valley Opera Center, NY). She has also devised work with Migration Theory (Boise, ID), and with Nervous Theater (Bozeman, MT). DJ is excited to be working with Parijata Performance Projects, after having worked with Parijat as developmental dramaturg on How Do I Become We (2022). donnajeanfogel.com
Nadia Khayrallah (they/them) is a dancer, choreographer, writer, arts administrator, and community (dis)organizer. They currently dance with Parijata Performance Projects and Gotham Dance Theater, and serve as Programs and Advocacy Coordinator at Dance/NYC, and have recently presented work at Center for Performance Research, The US Open, La Mama, and Arab American National Museum. Nadia’s work is rooted equally in history and fantasy, form and groove, esoterica and common sense. They are not above entertaining audiences nor opposed to making them uncomfortable.
Manatsu Tanaka (they/them) is a multi-disciplinary artist, an educator for young students, and an organizer involved with the Palestinian Liberation movement and PACBI mobilization, centering art and dance in protests and offering political education around cultural resistance. They have been performing at various locations in NYC and in Tokyo, from dance to immersive theater. In 2025, their solo Rose from the Cerebral Cortex was selected for presentation at Beirut Physical Lab / Choreography Encounters Dance Festival. Liberation before Peace. IG @manatsu.tanaka
Dahyun Kim (she/they) is a dancer, choreographer, and educator from Seoul, Republic of Korea based in NYC. They received an MFA in Dance from NYU Tisch and an MA in Dance Education from NYU Steinhardt with an Outstanding Artistry Award, and currently dance for Parijata Performance Projects, Threads of Truth, Umami Playground Dance Company Inc., Gotham Dance Theater, and Ah-Molla Dance Collective. A true believer that dance is for everyone, Dahyun uses her artistry to connect with communities, challenge cultural stereotypes, and celebrate our universal experience to move and breathe on this earth. dahyunkim.info
Past COMPANY MEMBERS
Tri Bobo is a performer, dance maker, and visual artist. She received her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance from Columbia College Chicago. As a creator, Tri values the practice of improvisation and is interested in the sensually potent nature of vulnerability in movement. As a queer person, Tri is also interested in queering all of the spaces and elevating the voices of under-represented people.
Quentin Burley is a dance and video artist based in Brooklyn, New York. His choreographic works have been presented throughout New York City, including The Red Bean Studios, Triskelion Arts, The Alchemical Theater, Dixon Place and Flux Factory. He has had the pleasure of performing with Brendan Drake Choreography, Parijata Performance Projects, Danté Brown | Warehouse Dance, The Moving Architects, Jung-In Jung, Ellen Maynard, and The Median Movement. He hails from Youngstown, Ohio and received a BFA in Dance and a BA in Philosophy from The Ohio State University. He has received a Mertz-Gilmore Late Stage Production Stipend for his work But Enough About Me.
Aditi Dhruv is a dance artist and yoga teacher. She has danced for over 20 years, and trained in bharata natyam, odissi, and contemporary dance. She began dancing with Parijat when they were children, playing Garba during the Navarati season and playfully inventing new steps on the livingroom carpet. They lead parallel lives training classically and later in jazz and modern dance. Their collaboration resumed in their adult years when Aditi became a founding member of Parijat Desai Dance Company and more recently through her participation as demonstrator and co-teacher in Dance In The Round. Aditi has also performed with Jody Oberfelder Dance Projects, Thresh Dance, Janaki Patrik/Kathak Ensemble and Trainor Dance.
Saju Hari is a UK-based dancemaker originally from Kerala, India. He has trained in Kalaripayattu, Kerala martial arts and contemporary dance, beginning his career with Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts/Bangalore. In London, he danced with Imlata Dance Company (1998-2003), Bedlam Dance Company (2004-2005), and Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company (2003-2007). He then joined Akram Khan Company’s Bahok, a collaboration with the National Ballet of China, touring across Europe, Asia, and the Americas (2008-2010). He later worked with Fabulous Beasts Dance Theatre, touring two productions: Bessie award-winning Rian, and a Stravinsky double bill -- Rite of Spring and Petrushka. Saju appeared in Julius Caesar directed by Michael Keegan Dolan at English National Opera in 2012. He has also worked with Sasha Waltz & Guests for Sasha Waltz’s production Gefaltet.
Saju directs the Disha Dance Intensive in Kerala and has taught at The Place, for Akram Khan Company, Sasha Waltz and guests, disabled and behaviourally challenged groups, schools, colleges, residencies in London and Brussels, choreographic workshops and more. He has led workshops for ImpulseTanz festival and Tanz Quartier Vienna.