Dharmini Piekarska is a multidisciplinary dance artist, educator, choreographer, and costume designer whose work spans ballroom and Latin dance, ballet, tango, figure skating choreography, and contemporary performance. She earned her BA in Dance from the University of Iowa in 2021 and holds certifications as a Personal Trainer and Nutrition Coach through the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Originally trained as a competitive ballroom and Latin dancer, Dharmini is a United Kingdom Open Ten Dance Champion and a multiple-time national finalist in the ballroom and Latin disciplines.

As an educator, Dharmini has taught dancers of all ages and experience levels through private instruction, studio teaching, and competitive coaching. She currently serves as Ballet Mistress at Dance Vision and has worked extensively with young dancers and figure skaters as a choreographer, mentor, and movement specialist. Her choreography has been featured in dance concerts, screendance projects, figure skating productions, and collaborative interdisciplinary works. Beyond movement, Dharmini is the founder of Ethnic Muse, a costume design and embellishment brand specializing in performance wear for dancers and skaters.

Dharmini’s research centers on choreography as a tool for connection, communication, and personal transformation. Influenced by her experiences as a performer, teacher, and collaborator, she is interested in how dance helps individuals assemble and express their identities. Her work explores the relationship between storytelling and movement, seeking ways to create space for personal narratives while maintaining a balance between structure and spontaneity. She is particularly drawn to processes that allow performers to discover their own artistic voices and cultivate a deeper sense of agency within creative work.

She is also interested in dance as a reflection of broader social structures and cultural values. Through investigations of dance forms such as ballet, ballroom, and Latin dance, Dharmini examines how movement traditions can both reveal and challenge questions of privilege, access, identity, and belonging. Her choreographic practice seeks to center human stories, lived experiences, and moments of connection, using dance as a means of fostering dialogue, empathy, and community.

As an MFA student, Dharmini hopes to deepen her choreographic practice, expand her pedagogical approaches, and create thought-provoking work that invites audiences and performers alike to engage more fully with themselves and one another. She believes dance is a healer, a listener, and a connector, and she is committed to using it as a vehicle for understanding, reflection, and meaningful human connection.