ABOUT US

For over twenty years, Indian Dance Training Center has taught traditional Indian dance to families across Orange County. What began as one teacher and a handful of students in North Tustin has grown into a full Indian classical dance academy, with a curriculum that carries a dancer from their first steps at age three to a solo debut on stage with live musicians.

We teach three art forms under one roof. Kathak, Bollywood, and classical Indian theater. Each is taught with the same seriousness, and each opens a different door into Indian culture.

Our Story

IDTC was founded to give children growing up far from India a real, living connection to its performing arts. Not a weekend hobby, but a training path with structure, examinations, and performance opportunities behind it. That founding idea still shapes everything here. Students learn technique, and they also learn the stories, the rhythm systems, and the traditions that give the technique meaning.

Today IDTC serves students from age three through 65 and above, produces an annual recital and full-length classical theater productions, and operates as a nonprofit cultural institution in the community it serves.

Meet Ruchi Lamba, Founder and Artistic Director

Ruchi Lamba is an internationally performing Kathak instructor with more than twenty years of teaching experience.

She began learning Kathak at the age of four in Bombay and continued her training under Smt Shakuntala Nair in Sydney. She went on to study Kuchipudi with Shri Raghavan Nair, and trained in jazz and hip-hop with the Sydney Dance Company. She taught Kathak at the Kalabharati School of Dance in Sydney, then in London, where she taught both Bollywood and Kathak before settling in California.

That path matters in the studio. Growing up between Eastern and Western dance traditions gave Ruchi a way of teaching Indian classical dance that connects with students raised here, without diluting what makes the form what it is.

Her work has been recognized widely. She served as a judge at the Neema Saree Dance Competition in 2014, and in February 2015 received strong reviews for her role in Ramayan, Australia’s official dance-drama. That same year, her Kathak students performed Ganesh Vandana as the competition’s opening ceremony.

Our Teaching Team

Ruchi leads the faculty alongside Thea and Deeksha, both of whom came up through IDTC training. Class sizes stay small so every dancer gets seen, corrected, and pushed at the right pace.

Our Teaching Philosophy

We follow the Guru-Shishya Parampara, the traditional teacher-student relationship built on shared discipline, dedication, and respect. In practice, that means every class opens and closes with Namaskaar. It means corrections are offered generously and received with gratitude. It means the ghunghroos are treated as an instrument and blessed before they are worn.

It also means every student is valued for what they individually bring. Some dancers are here for the stage. Some are here for the rhythm, the culture, or the joy of moving. All of them belong.

What Makes IDTC Different

  • Curriculum-based training with examinations and diploma progression
  • Live musicians for major performances
  • Full-length classical theater productions
  • A path to Rangmanch Pravesh, the solo debut
  • A serene North Tustin studio and genuinely small groups
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