Kate Asmara.

International performing artist, actress, instructor, dancer and choreographer.

Kate Asmara is an international artist, who showed special interests and talent for dance and performance from the age of 5. She studied classic ballet, which carried out during 8 years; subsequently, she studied contemporary dance and jazz for another 8 years. She was also a member of the theater group in junior high school and later, in university.

In 2002, after earning an International Business Relations degree, Asmara developed a great interest for the Indian traditional dance called Bharata Natyam. The same year, in Mexico, she started her preparation in such specialty, apart from moving forward into yoga and the energy movement. She was given a scholarship by the Indonesian government for studying Oriental Dances and Acting in the Art Institute of Indonesia, from 2004 to 2007. The first 2 years she studied in Yogyakarta city in the island of Java, and the third year in Bali, which made her possible not only to study with the best teachers of these two islands, but also to learn different styles of each region and enrich her art knowledge.

During her stay in the biggest archipelago of the world, she had the opportunity to dance in 2 occasions in the Royal Palace of the Sultan of Yogyakarta. The first occasion was a presentation directed by the teacher Pak Sunaryadi, and the second by the teacher Heni Winahyuningsih, director of the faculty of dance of the Art Institute of Yogyakarta, along with the teacher Tutik Winarti. The invitation for participating in such presentations was an honor for Kate Asmara, since not many occasions has a foreigner danced in the Royal Palace.

Later on, she participated in two seasons of the Ramayana Ballet, presented in the Prambanam Temple and directed by professors Pak Tejo and Bu Indah Tejo, internationally renowned dancers and choreographers who have carried out Ramayana Ballet in different countries of Europe, Asia, and North America. Thus, she has been the only foreign dancer in participating in Ramayana Ballet. Moreover, her studies were supplemented by outside classes with teachers like Didik Nini Thowok, who taught her the importance of impromptu performance and the softness on hands movement.

At the Art Institute of Indonesia, she had the opportunity of studying for the first time the Bollywood dance style, as a subject of International Styles. It was there where Asmara found what her passion of life would be, and to which she would put all her efforts both on practicing and teaching, as she thought that western people should enjoy this style of dance. This is on top of the fact that the Bollywood cinema has a great importance in Indonesia. In the very malls, their films are broadcasted, and their music can be listened anywhere. Indeed, dance and performance students learn their steps by copying them from the choreographies of those films in their spare time.

She had the opportunity of participating in two Indonesian movies; besides, she was member of the cast of the theater play “Mimpi indah denganku” (Dream Sweet Dreams about Me) for three seasons.

On her stay in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in August 2005, she took part as Latin dance choreographer in the program “Mala ini” (Tonight). 

After the strong earthquake that destroyed large part of the Yogyakarta city in May 2006, Kate decided to continue her studies in the Art Institute of Bali, where she concluded her preparation and graduated from Oriental Dances and Acting degree in June of 2007.

Having returned to Mexico in August 2007, she started to collaborate with the classic music group Indra Swara Javanese with which she took part in several festivals around Mexico, such as the Nao Festival Acapulco and the International Festival of Huatulco, among others.  

Time later, Kate Asmara set up a Javanese classical dance company called Roro Kidul. She performed with this company in Expo Danza 2009, at WTC stage, Mexico City, by delivering the show: “Un cuento del Mahabarata” (A Tale from Mahabharata). It was there where she took the Arab dance workshop provided by the American teacher Bozenka and the Egyptian teacher Tito Seif, and thus decided to continue enriching her knowledge on this dance.

At the beginning of 2008, Asmara started to give dance classes on several cultural centers. Once she had gained experience on teaching, Kate decided to create “fusión oriental Bollywood,” (Bollywood Oriental Fusion) as named by her, on which she managed to integrate Indian, Arab and Indonesian dances, highly leaned to Indian Bollywood style using Asian style fans and bamboo umbrellas in her choreographies. She started to teach this style in Expression Dance Studio. Teamed with the group from this studio, she performed at the Lebanese Theater, Mexico, on December 2009. Later on, Asmara decided to set her own school called Asmara Dance in Centro Cultural Coyoacán, where, by teaching Bollywood style to students of all ages, she gained a great deal of experience.

On April 29^th, 2010, invited by the Instituto Politecnico Nacional, she performed on the presentations of International Day of Dance at Planetarium Luis Enrique Erro, in the “World Dances” program, where she participated with the Javanese classical dance group Roro Kidul and “Bollywood” Oriental Fussion Asmara Dance.

Concerning acting performance, Asmara recently participated in a music video of Ricardo Hernandez (TV Azteca’s Academia 2009 member) which shall be the opening of TV Azteca’s soap opera “A cada quien su santo.” 

On June 18th, 2010, along with Sneha Mistri, Bollywood dancer and choreographer, Asmara gave a dance presentation in Ana Maria Hernandez Theater, before the ambassador of India Mr. Dinesh Kumar Jain and his wife. The following two days, she took a Bollywood International intensive seminar given by the same Bollywood dancer and choreographer at the Anahuac Dance studio

Nowadays, Kate Asmara is taking a film acting seminar provided by the Director Martin Castillo who has worked for Televisa, TV Azteca and Argos, and where she is participating on shorts.

As for dancing, Asmara keeps learning different styles enriching her technique, and she is currently taking classes with tribal fusion teacher and dancer, Adriana Lopez Boyer. She is also a special events dancer on Tandoor restaurant (India and Pakistan restaurant).

Kate Asmara’s dream is to be internationally known and to be part of Bombay film studios, Bollywood¸ where she can integrate all her studies, since on her country, Mexico, film acting is not generally linked to dancing, which has forced her to dance and act separately.

One day, in your winery, I drank some wine,

I took my clothes off,

And I knew, drunk in you, this world is harmony.

Creation and destruction: I dance for both.

&

Dancing is not lifting painlessly the feet like a dust whirl
blown by the wind. Dancing is like rising over both worlds
breaking your heart into pieces and delivering your soul

Rumi

The word asmara comes from ancient Sanskrit and means “love,” or “passionate love.” Dancing is one of the best ways to express the love and passion we feel for our lives. Asmara Dance means “Love Dance” or “Passion Dance”

Not anyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.

Kate Asmara

Kate Asmara is an actress and the first professional Bollywood dancer in Mexico.