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About Meher Dance
Meher Dance Company is an internationally recognized arts organization dedicated to advancing the art of Indian and Bollywood dance by creating a meaningful platform where individuals can cultivate, learn, share and enjoy diverse styles of dance.
Since 2010, we have engaged in an array of dance related services including but not limited to classes, private choreography, performances at special events, corporate and educational engagement, TV/Film production, online tutorials and much much more. We work closely with all clientele to deliver customized dance productions to meet one's unique vision. Basically if you can imagine it, we can create it!
Since its inception, Meher has collaborated with many local, national and international artists, establishing itself as a premier South Asian dance company in the Midwest and a production entity whose work spans globally. Learn more about our work below.
Meher’s dance efforts explore India’s colorful culture by encompassing styles of dance from all regions in India as well western forms from across the world. We blend Indian dance with western styles to create a dynamic experience for audiences. Through our services, our hope is to always spread joy and light and to inspire people to live and dance with grace!
Cultivating South Asian Arts & Spreading the Joy of of Dance
Servicing the World for over 14 years
Meet the Director
Gopi Engineer
Gopi Engineer is a dance artist, choreographer, instructor and performer whose dance journey spans over 30 years in Bollywood, Indian folk, classical dance forms such as Kathak and Bharat Natyam along with contemporary styles including tap, ballet, jazz, hip hop and modern dance. As the Founder and Artistic director of Meher Dance Co. Gopi teaches dance globally to kids and adults alike, leads a professional dance troupe as well as engages in dance projects internationally in film and television. Her passion oozes through her creative ventures; but nothing compares to the joy she experiences in teaching dance from all skill levels and seeing them grown as artists. She has a deep belief that dance is an element of grace in her life, which she tries to share with the world through Meher Dance, which means "grace" in Hindi.
She started learning dance at an early age of two from her mother, Mina. Her formal dance training started with folk dance forms such as garba, raas, bhangra and lavni, followed by classical training in Bharat Natyam with Gira Patel in the US and Usha Rana in Valsad, India. Then she trained in Kathak with Hanmant Rao in Illinois. Her western dance training stems from several dance studios in Tennessee as well as University of Illinois in Urbana/Champaign. She also has music training with tabla lessons from David Courntey in Houston and Nikhil Bhavsar in Gujrat along with vocal lessons from the late Bikhu Bhai Bhavsar in Valsad, India.
Experience
Music Video Production
Gopi served as the Dance Coordinator for the blockbuster Bollywood film, DHOOM 3. She worked closely with prestigious Bollywood choreographer, Vaibhavi Merchant and Yash Raj Productions team to successfully organize a music video production in Chicago for the film.
Film Choreography
Gopi and the MDC troupe are known for their unique style and clever choreography. Audiences around the world can see their work on the big screen cinema through the film SIMANAHEEN. Gopi served as the Director of Choreography for this Bengali Film, which was released February 14, 2013 internationally and had vocals by the magical singer, Runa Laila.
Buzzfeed
"Art of Dance"
Meher Dance and its dance team shot a virtual reality/ 360 dance video for the international social media company, Buzzfeed in association with Google, the Joffrey Ballet and Muntu Dance Theater. The first of its kind where dance is depicted through this platform of videography. If you use your desktop to view the video, be sure to use your cursor and with a phone/ipad you can use your fingers to get a full 360 view of the dance.
Collaborations With Artists
Gopi has had the pleasure of collaborating with artists across various disciplines. One of those special projects includes working closely with the sunsational dance duet, Poonam and Priyanka Shah. In 2018, she contributed to their Kathak Fusion piece to “Dhire Jalna” in association with choreographer, Kumar Sharma.
Beach Flash Mob
Bollywood Beach Flash Mob Chicago Meher Dance Company partnered with Trikone, a local organization to create a Bollywood flash mob in Chicago. It was highlighted in an article by MTV India.
Steve Harvey Show
Flash Mob
Steve opened the floor for Whitney Thore to perform a dance routine but it turned into a surprise Flash Mob. Meher Dance Company team mebers participated as dancers to promote Whitney's No Body Shame campaign.
Webseries Work
Gopi & her troupe had the pleasure of working with actress and artist, Puja Mohindra on her original web series GEETA'S GUIDE TO MOVING ON. In the show, the character has a tremendous passion for dance and that too in the field of Bollywood Indian Fusion dance. Thus, it allowed us the opportunity to be very creative in choreographing movement for the actress and incorporating the fusion style for the show. Our troupe also got to perform in one of the scenes.