Two decades ago this company was founded by Nilimma Devi, an internationally-renowned classical Kuchipudi dancer from South India. The first in a handful of breakout women performers in a gender monopoly, Nilimma mastered the complex art of Kuchipudi and took it to new levels of concept and presentation once in the United States. She collaborated with martial artist Thang Tha to take the lyricism of Kuchipudi to the dynamism of controlled force. Bringing the depth of the Sanskrit poetry to the audience, she had an American poet with Indian cultural affiliation translate words and recreate live readings in the music score. Meaning and experience has been the Devi Dance Company’s byword and has stayed true to the challenge of reinterpreting culture and tradition in beautiful new ways.