Reshma Anwar, MPA
Reshma Anwar is a professional dance artist and acquired an MPA. Her mission is to promote social development interventions, such as the positive correlation between dance, health and public policy outcomes.
Reshma was born and raised in Leipzig, Germany, where she was commissioned to choreograph a solo, “Diversity,” for the 50th anniversary of Leipziger Tanztheater. She is the daughter of two immigrant parents from India and Pakistan. Her latest film “Rebirth” features glimpses of her experience growing up in the Western world as a second generation immigrant. (Check out our ‘News’ page for more information on how to request access!) She is fluent in English, German and French and also has an understanding of Hindi, Bengali, Urdu and Spanish.
She graduated from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons.) in Dance and a minor in Music Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology in Music and completed a Master in Public Administration with a focus in International Development at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Reshma is passionate about behavioral economic interventions for social impact.
Being a woman with two careers, she has worked with various choreographers with international recognition. Reshma also had the opportunity to participate in summer intensives, including the American Ballet Theater Collegiate Summer, Les Étés de la Danse in Paris, Keigwin&Company and Ballet Hispanico‘s ChoreoLab. She has worked with various dance companies with social impact, including Augusto Soledade Brazzdance, National Water Dance, Pioneer Winter Collective and Peter London Global Dance in Miami, Florida, with whom she had the honor or performing “Dougla” by Geoffrey Holder in collaboration with Dance Theatre of Harlem. For her own choreographic work, she was most recently commissioned by the Pérez Art Museum to create and develop her work “Time is a Construct” through the Miami Dance Makers program.
While being a student at the Professional Division at the Ailey School, she served as a Teaching Assistant for the Junior Division. At the same time she has been engaged in various projects around New York City, including the “Table of Silence” Project with Buglisi Dance Theater in remembrance of the victims of 9/11 and “UNDER I STAND” with Dana Caspersen, as part of her fellowship at NYU, addressing topics such as structural racism. In March 2017, she has been part of Nathan Trice‘s “Recognizing Women Project.”
Reshma further worked with Style Saves, a Miami-based non-profit organization merging the world of Fashion and Philanthropy, where she also acted as a community outreach coordinator. During her time at LSE, she gained experience as a consultant for Plan International. Post graduation, she gained experience with the European Commission as a Blue Book Trainee, the Women’s Fund Miami, the United Nations Secretariat with the Peacekeeping departments and as a Public Sector Consultant with Capgemini Invent and ICF.
After having volunteered in Jamaica and Haiti to teach dance for children in need, she has had the opportunity to act as a Group Leader at Ailey Camp Miami, the 2016 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award recipient, changing lives of children within the community in a positive way through dance and generally the arts, which will be an ongoing mission for her. She also created and implemented a dance education program for the Lotus Village homeless shelter for women and children, fostering dedication, commitment and resilience.
Reshma hosts movement workshops for organizations focusing on team building and (mental) health, which has been gaining momentum at the UN and LSE.
Reshma is the founder and director of Music On Pointe, with which she has already supported First Dance Studios in Montego Bay, Jamaica, Girls Inc Miami, USA and Ases del Swing in Cali, Colombia. Please refer to the timeline for more detailed info and JOIN MUSIC ON POINTE below or at musiconpointe.com!
Music On Pointe is an international collaboration platform representing diverse communities throughout the world connected through the expression of ART. She hosts benefit concerts, started a podcast that further focuses on her mission and sends out newsletters about her work and related topics.
