About Kavita
Background & Lineage
Kavita Kat Macmillan is a musician, yoga instructor, workshop facilitator and transformational creative guide who brings over 20 years of teaching & sharing kirtan & study of Yoga, Mantra, Hindustani Classical voice, & Naad (sound) yoga to her classes and offerings.
Known for her deep, devotional vocals and masterful instrumentation, Kavita’s Sacred Chant music with the Open Heart Sangha band presents traditional mantras in original compositions with Western and Indian influences.
Kavita facilitates at retreats, workshops, private & group classes & spiritual festivals and is an open, supportive guide for those who wish to explore this path. Her Sound Sanctuary Mentorship community is in it’s 3rd year and continues to create a strong container for aspiring Kirtan artists as well as those interested in personal Sacred Sound practice to grow in skill, confidence and connected experience.
She has shared the stage with artists such as Jai Uttal, Krishna Das, Gina Sala, David Newman, Dave Stringer, Daniel Paul, Steve Gorn, Saul David Raye and others.
Kavita’s most recent album ‘The Beloved Lives Inside’ is available streaming worldwide and features Jai Uttal, Daniel Paul, Steve Gorn, Hans Christian, Will Marsh, Ram Dass Khalsa & Alex Milsted. www.kavitakatmacmillan.com
Kavita playing tambura
Indian Classical Music
Concurrent to training extensively in yoga while living in NYC, Kavita met and began to study with musician and composer Michael Harrison, a western disciple of Guru Pandit Pran Nath. Through Michael, Kavita was led to study with other great senior disciples of Pandit Pran Nath including Sri Karunamayee, formerly of the Sri Aurobindo ashram in Delhi, who Kavita would go to India to study with. It was Karunaji who gave Kat the name Kavita, which means "muse or poet."
Other prominent teachers that have transmitted their teachings to Kavita include the master singer of the Kirana Gharana Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan, as well as Rik Masterson, senior disciple of Pandit Pran Nath. Kavita currently studies music with internationally recognized vocalist and composer Warren Senders and Naad yoga and Chakra energetics wtih Sri Shyamji Bhatnagar.
Kavita’s study of Sacred Sound is a continuing personal practice that influences both the compositions that she writes and the way she teaches voice and harmonium. This focus is on sound as a path to union with the divine, Nada Brahma.
Sri Karunamayee speaking with Marcus Boon (Ascent Magazine 2002):
Performance
Kavita Kat Macmillan 2015
San Miguel Allende, Mexico
From the play “Last Dance.”
Photo by Holly Wilmeth
“Whether we explore the Self through words, images, music or movement, we symbolically offer a vision and a statement about that which we are. We help define and shape collective ideals by undertaking this journey into ourselves. Butoh can lead us back to our rebellions, our private wars, our wounded selves, and through the process brings what is hidden into the light. The process is deeply healing and transformative.”
Vangeline, Butoh dancer and artistic director of The Vangeline Theater and The New York Butoh Institute
Kavita began training in theater as a child. As a young adult living in Los Angeles, a dance teacher led her to Yoga, encouraging Kavita to move to NYC and continue to explore the world of movement and performance. There Kavita met Vangeline and became deeply compelled by the dance form of Butoh.
Evolving from post WWII Japan, the practice of Butoh - not unlike yoga and finding authentic voice - involves a stripping away of the layers of the masked self in order to reveal the truth of ones essence. Through this process, one is able to literally dance their transformation and open to the possibility for cathartic healing and change.
Kavita was one of the original members of the Vangeline Theater, a contemporary Butoh dance company based in New York City and founded by preeminent dancer, choreographer, & artist Vangeline. She now continues to train, teach and present dance in Portland, Oregon and internationally.
Through the lens of Butoh Kavita was led back into the theater - performing in original plays, creating movement scores, and coaching performers with movement training and choreography.
As a life practice, Butoh is woven through Kavita’s work. It’s become an invaluable tool to move through experiences and patterns of being, always returning her to the authentic Self connecting us all and the strength of spirit.
For information about current performance offerings & workshops, contact Kavita directly.
Read a review of “The 1 Festival” where Kavita performed an original dance “For Rosa” from Oregon Arts Watch.
Kavita Kat Macmillan Portland, OR 2015. Photo by Jen Scholten