Jaymini

Jaymini is a Colchester-born Indian dancer and multidisciplinary artist on a mission to break down stereotypes, build cultural awareness, and bring people together through dance, creativity and story.

Her work draws on a vibrant spectrum of Indian dance styles – from contemporary Bollywood and traditional Gujarati folk dance, to energetic Bhangra and classical Bharatanatyam – blending tradition with lived experience to create work that is joyful, purposeful and rooted in community.

Alongside movement, Jaymini’s creative practice is informed by her background in woven textiles, which she studied at university. This training continues to shape her approach: layered, tactile and people-centred, with a strong emphasis on process, collaboration and expression. She runs creative workshops that encourage participants to explore identity, culture, and confidence through accessible, inclusive activities – creating safe spaces where everyone can contribute “one step at a time”.

For over two decades, Jaymini has worked across communities delivering local and regional workshops, as well as performing and collaborating with Arts organisations including Colchester Arts Centre, Essex Cultural Diversity Project and Mercury Theatre. Her performances include Essex Book Festival’s Stand Up For Diversity, and International Women’s Day 2023, where she combined spoken word poetry with Bharatanatyam mudras and movement to create an interactive performance honouring “The Women Within.” Public speaking is a key strand of her work – whether presenting events, teaching or performing poetry – used as a channel for purposeful storytelling and for empowering women.

Jaymini also works closely with arts venues to help amplify artists from the South Asian diaspora and advocate for venues to be welcoming, safe spaces for all members of the community. Recent choreographic projects include the parade for Mercury Theatre’s Christmas Lights Switch-On (2024) and choreographing Freshly Greated’s Barracks Luminaire Parade in Great Yarmouth (2025).

Her recent Heritage Lottery Funded project, I’m Indian but…, created in collaboration with Signals Media, explored people’s insecurities, experiences and perceptions of what being Indian means through conversation and craft. Developed as part of the Peoples of Essex project, it spotlighted the stories of the communities that shape the local area and the journeys that brought them there, placing lived experience at the heart of the work.

Jaymini offers Indian dance performances, choreography, workshops and public speaking, grounded in the belief that creativity is a shared language – and that when people move, make and speak together, true connection and change becomes possible.