Ndaru Kartikaningsih

Dance | Music

Ndaru Kartikaningsih (she/her) is a dancer, choreographer, and non-profit arts administrator. Born and raised in a rural village of East Java, Indonesia, she began her training in traditional Indonesian dance and music at 2 years old. Her parents, a singer-dancer “sindhen” (Karen Elizabeth Sekararum), and a shadow puppeteer and choreographer (Ki Soleh Adi Pramono), were both renowned nationally for their talents. For 20+ years, Ndaru’s parents ran Padepokan Seni Mangun Dharma, an arts center that focused on the conservation, promotion, and preservation of the traditional art forms of East Java and Indonesia. The years of watching her mother run this arts organization while pursuing a performing arts career is what instilled in Ndaru the desire to support other artists in their crafts, inspiring her to pursue a dual career in arts administration alongside the performing arts.

Following this rich cultural upbringing, Ndaru’s family relocated to Western Australia, then again to Boston, Massachusetts, where she was introduced to hip hop and other street styles, now her main styles of practice and true loves. After interning as the Dance Programs Assistant at the Boston Center for the Arts in 2023, Ndaru was determined to pursue work that would allow her to support fellow creatives and remove barriers to arts access, and now is the Programs & Production Coordinator at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX). Ndaru is also pursuing commercial dance professionally, and most recently was the assistant choreographer for a New York Fashion Week show.

When not dancing, Ndaru loves to read and embroider. She deeply believes in the life-changing power of the arts in improving health, lifestyle, and overall wellbeing. While she loved the East Javanese music and dance pieces she learned growing up, Ndaru has long admired and desired to also study Balinese dance and music, and is extremely excited to be returning to the gamelan world and her island roots.