Seniors Dance

Led by passionate teaching artists, Mandala’s senior dance program is a warm and inviting virtual space for participants with all physical abilities and speakers of all languages. Simple and energizing movement set to nostalgic Bollywood grooves, inspired by iconic South Asian folk and classical dance traditions, keeps bodies and minds limber and uplifted. 

Mandala Arts program has found a home at social service centers that engage and provide health and wellness programs for seniors in South Asian communities. This winter, Mandala joins a new initiative - National India Hub - that aims to serve the Indian-American community of the greater Chicagoland area through accessible clinics - including mental health services - and social services. Thank you to Share A Smile and the Aurora Indian Community Outreach Advisory board for their support for this program.  

Mandala's senior program will be taught by dance educator and communications/speech specialist, Sonia Sethi-Kohli. Our thoughtful classroom space hopes to provide “community” and connection to body and music. We need this more than ever! Ask us more at info@mandalaarts.org or learn about Mandala'a programs at mandalaarts.org

About Sonia: 
Sonia Sethi-Kohli’s passion for dance, music, learning, teaching, promoting wellness, and celebrating diversity became evident at a very young age. Sonia was born and raised in Bloomington-Normal, IL to parents that worked tirelessly to raise Sonia and her sister with the desire to celebrate their Indian-American cultures, as well as learn about and celebrate other cultures. Sonia's exposure to learning and performing different types of South Asian dance began with school and community-based training, including Classical (Bharatanatyam, Kathak), Traditional/Folk (including Garba/Dandia, Lavani, Bhangra), Pop/Contemporary (Bollywood) as well as Western formats including Tap, Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, Modern, Hip Hop, Salsa, Flamenco, and more. 

During her undergraduate studies, Sonia also earned her national certification in Group Exercise Instruction and has taught a variety of fitness classes for over 20 years, including many dance-fitness classes (Bollywood/Bhangra, Zumba®, Hip-Hop/Funk). During her undergraduate studies at Illinois State University, Sonia earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech-Language Pathology, with a Minor in Spanish, a portion of which she earned during a semester abroad at Universidad Complutense in Madrid. She then went on to earn her Master of Science degree in Communication Disorders and Sciences (Speech-Language Pathology) from Rush University in Chicago.

After an extensive career working in various healthcare and educational settings, Sonia established her private practice that has two distinct divisions—one division, Global Speech and Swallow, offering multilingual clinical services to adults & children, and the other, The Global Speech Suite, offering adult professional communication training services, of which the subset of The Communication Collective offers public speaking and communication enrichment coaching for children and teens. Sonia currently resides in the Western Chicago suburbs with her husband and 2 energetic children, and enjoys seeing the passion of dance, music, and celebration of diversity being ignited on a daily basis.