TEAM MEMBERS
Creatives
Elly Wel Photography
Zoobin Surty
Hybrid Indian Classical & Contemporary Dance Artist | Artistic Director, Karma Dance | PhD Candidate, Performing Arts, Leeds Beckett University
'Bridging worlds through rhythm, resilience, and reflection"
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"Dance born from pain, shaped by silence, and transformed into light"
​Zoobin Surty is a hybrid Indian classical dance artist from Bombay, India, whose creative journey bridges tradition and innovation across continents. Trained in the rich aesthetics of Indian classical dance and contemporary movement at Birkbeck College, London, and The Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Zoobin has cultivated a distinctive choreographic voice that transcends cultural and disciplinary boundaries.
His work explores dance as a medium for healing, mental health, and human connection—an embodied language that invites empathy, reflection, and transformation. Through years of performance, collaboration, and intercultural exchange, Zoobin continues to challenge conventional narratives, using movement as a form of storytelling that speaks to resilience and belonging.
For him, trauma is not solely destructive — it is also a catalyst for creativity and healing. His work is a journey of turning pain into art, shaped through collaboration with gifted musicians from the UK and India, and dancers whose intelligence and sensitivity bring depth to the vision.
A recent journey into profound deafness has reshaped his artistic practice, giving rise to what he calls “the movement of silence.” This evolving exploration invites audiences to reimagine the sensorial possibilities of dance—where stillness speaks, silence moves, and the body becomes a vessel of vibration, emotion, and light.
Currently, Zoobin is pursuing a PhD in Performing Arts at Leeds Beckett University, further deepening his research into the intersections of dance, embodiment, and sensory experience.
As Artistic Director of Karma Dance, Zoobin’s work continues to bridge worlds—where the classical meets the contemporary, and where art becomes a space for healing, inclusion, and hope.
Company
Xiaoyi Tong
New Director of Karma Dance CIC / Associate Choreographer/ Performer
With seven years of classical ballet training and four years of contemporary dance training in China, Xiaoyi Tong now works internationally as a choreographer under the UK Global Talent Visa, endorsed by Arts Council England.
From 2022 to 2024, she collaborated with directors across Europe and the UK as a performer. Her work has been presented in Mexico, Hamburg, the Framed Berlin Festival, Edinburgh, and Newcastle.
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Since joining Karma Dance CIC in 2022, Tong has contributed to the creation and performance of six projects, spanning both professional productions and community-based work.
Most recently, her dance theatre project Emptiness was supported by Arts Council England. In 2025, she will receive the Bonnie Bird Choreography Fund. She also created two contemporary dance works for the graduating class of the Saint Petersburg Eifman Ballet Academy. My artistic growth has been deeply supported by Karma Dance over the past four years in the UK.
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Diminished is not just a dance piece — it is a unique project that began with an R&D journey full of honesty, bravery, and vulnerability. It invites us to connect with real people and to uncover truth through art. All of its elements are drawn from things that have happened, are still happening, or might continue to happen — even if we don’t yet know it. It pushes us — and the audience — to confront what we often try to avoid.
Jacob Gale
Company Dancer
He graduated from the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance in 2020 and from Northern School of Contemporary Dance’s postgraduate company, VERVE, in 2025. He has worked with choreographers including Christopher Bruce, Zoobin Surty, Eliot Smith, Bosmat Nossam, Luca Signoretti, Harriet Macauley, Sattva Nguyên, and Devika Rao.
Jake is delighted to return to Diminished, having been part of its first R&D. The piece’s sensitive and important themes resonate deeply with him, and he hopes that through dance, the work can shed light on these issues and offer comfort to those affected.
Amari Webb-Martin
Company Dancer
Relentless in seeking creativity and inspiration, Amari Webb-Martin is a London-based dance artist and recent graduate of the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. He has worked with Uchenna Dance, Company of Others, Keneish Dance, and Ella Mesma Company, with a keen interest in fusing Contemporary dance with dances of the African Diaspora. Passionate about creating work that advocates, educates, and sparks dialogue, Amari is excited to join Diminished with Karma Dance CIC, exploring how lived experience can shape raw, resonant art.
Elly Wel Photography
Tishainy Constancia
Company Dancer
She discovered her passion for dance at an early age. She graduated from Rambert School in 2023. For her, dance is a way to keep growing and hopefully inspire others along the way. The work of Karma Dance resonates with her because she believes that dance can create emotional and intellectual experiences for an audience.
Kasia Kuzka
Company Dancer
She is a London-based dancer and movement artist, and a 2023 graduate of the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. She has performed at the Venice Biennale 2025 under Wayne McGregor, in works by Sasha Waltz & Guests and Anthony Matsena; at the Paris Olympics 2024 opening ceremony; and in the NOWNESS film PUMP. Kasia has collaborated with renowned artists including Marina Abramović, Andrew Winghart, ASHISH, and Thick&Tight. She is currently working with Karma Dance, inspired by its mission to give voice to hidden experiences and underrepresented stories in dance.
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Luke Reddin-Williams
Musician
Luke Reddin-Williams is an award-winning drummer and percussionist based in Leeds, known for his work with the Mercury Prize-nominated Roller Trio and the Afro Punk-Jazz quartet Vipertime. After touring India in 2019, he developed a deep passion for Hindustani Classical Music and now studies the Gayaki style of sitar under Ustad Dharambir Singh. As a tutor and performer with South Asian Arts UK, Luke blends his jazz background with Indian classical influences to create a distinctive sound. His collaboration with Karma Dance CIC has further deepened his artistic journey, inspiring him to address social issues through his music.
Tak Kei Wong (Kev)
Musician
Graduated with a Master in Music(composition) from Royal Northern College of Music, Tak Kei Wong is a Hong Kong composer, violinist and graphic designer currently based in Manchester. He has been actively participating in the performing art industry in all three roles.
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Josh Smout
Musician
He is a drummer currently involved with a number of projects spanning several genres including Jazz, Classical, Rock, World and Pop. Notable performances include festivals in Italy, Spain & Finland as well as performing at some of the country's most prestigious venues such as the Royal Concert Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall and Westminster Hall.
Anuraag Dhoundeyal
Musician
A vocalist, music director, poet, and a TedX Speaker from Mumbai, India, brings a deep spiritual essence to his music, inspired by Sufi poetry, and ancient Indian non-dual philosophy. With decades of training in Indian classical music, he blends traditional raagas with contemporary influences, creating a rich tapestry of soundscapes, and soulful melodies
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Nirdesh Jandu
Community Relations Director
Nirdesh Jandu, a former Deputy Head in Adult Education at Leeds City College has worked with the most vulnerable communities, supporting people from diverse social and cultural backgrounds and people with mental health. Following redundancy, her driving factor was to make a difference to people’s lives and she transitioned into
working at the charity; Association of Blind Asians in Leeds. Her motivation and commitment to mental health and related issues led her to join Zoobin Surty Karma Dance CIC , where she creatively engages communities in arts, culture, and issue-based projects and events that engage and inspire local communities, enhancing both physical and mental well-being.
Directors
Zoobin Surty
Artistic Director
Elly Wel Photography
The passing of my mother, coupled with the profound loss of my hearing, emptied me completely. My mental health collapsed into a quiet void, and loneliness wrapped itself around me like a second skin. Silent and unseen, suicidal thoughts began to seep into the stillness, pulling me deeper into a place where even sorrow had no sound.
In that stillness, however, something stirred. I realised that the source of my anguish lay tangled within my memories, my emotions — stored not just in my mind, but deeply etched into the wisdom of my body. Slowly, with trembling patience, I embraced the stillness, listening to its quiet lessons. In doing so, I found a hybrid movement. From dead silence, dance was born — fragile at first, but alive. Dance became my language, my bridge from despair to existence, my way to speak when words deserted me.
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Movement awakened my being. Each gesture became a memory revisited, each step an emotion released. The body, once frozen in grief, began to breathe, to speak, to hope. Movement reconnected me with the world beyond myself. In reaching out, I discovered that healing begins when one soul meets another — when we are heard, seen, and sensed without judgment.
This profound journey has shaped the new vision for Karma Dance CIC.
Through dance, we now create spaces where loneliness transforms into hope, and stillness gives birth to mindfulness. We work with individuals, organisations, communities, and groups — guiding them to explore their own stories through movement. Together, we weave connections, nurture friendships, and honour the resilience that lies quietly within us all.
Our work is a celebration of healing, a dance from despair to light, moving gently and powerfully across all realms of human experience.
Elly Wel Photography
Phil Sanger
Rehearsals Director
Phil Sanger is currently a doctoral student at Guildford School of Acting (part of Surrey University) and is undertaking an LGBTQ+-focused project which explores performance ecologies of socially engaged dance theatre.
Between 2016 and 2023 he was a performance lecturer at NSCD, and has also taught workshops and training programs in numerous universities and conservatoires in Asia, USA and Europe. He continues to support creativity and dance practice, offering classes, workshops and rehearsal direction that are now rooted in coaching-based research.
M Meherhomji
Trustee
Narendra Rao
Trustee
Mentor
Elly Wel Photography
Mark Hollander
Mark Hollander - With over 30 years experience working in arts and culture, as a practitioner, a consultant, senior roles at Arts Council England, and Executive Director roles at five arts charities including LEEDS 2023 year of culture, Phoenix Dance Theatre, and Freedom Studios, I bring extensive experience of arts and culture funding, strategy and operations. My work has spanned theatre, performing arts, museums and galleries, local authorities, music services, heritage organisations, as well as individual practitioners. Now a true mentor to Karma Dance ( mental health and Truama ) CIC. Zoobin is very exicted to collaborate with him.
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Friends of Karma Dance
Carmen Thompson
Poet
Azizi Cole
Musician
Gabrielle Cresswell-Porter
GCP Strategies
Mental Health & Wellbeing
Elly Welford & Milly Dennison
Photo Credit
Callum Holt
Mentor
Nirdesh Jandu & Erica Strickland
Designated Safeguarding Lead
Tiia & Douglas
Maddogs theatre