Oxana Banshikova

🪔 About

Oxana Banshikova is a prominent Bharatanatyam dancer, teacher, and choreographer, originally from Kazakhstan and currently based in Edinburgh, Scotland. She is a graduate of the Kalakshetra College of Fine Arts in Chennai, India, where she completed a four-year course on an ICCR scholarship, graduating in 2006. After her graduation, Banshikova lived, taught, and performed in Hong Kong, where she founded the Cosmic Dance Company in November 2009. She played a significant role in the development and popularisation of Bharatanatyam in Hong Kong. With over 20 years of teaching experience, she has trained students of diverse ages, backgrounds, and nationalities, developing a distinctive teaching approach that combines strong classical technique with clarity, musicality, and expressive storytelling. In 2019, Banshikova relocated to Edinburgh, where she continues to build a vibrant classical dance presence in Scotland and beyond through performance, choreography, and education. She is also the Associate Artistic Director of Beyond Bollywood (Hong Kong). Alongside her artistic work, Banshikova has dedicated over a decade to researching healthy and sustainable training methods for Bharatanatyam dancers. She is certified in Yin Yoga (2011) and Polestar Pilates (2018), integrating conditioning, alignment, and injury-prevention principles into her teaching. Under the Cosmic Dance umbrella, she collaborates with Kirsten Newell, another Kalakshetra graduate and Bharatanatyam artist in Edinburgh, to promote and grow innovative and high-quality South Asian Dance. [cite: 4 from previous search]