"Daniela embodies and guides her students in the true essence and sacred purpose of Temple Dance: To cultivate and draw forth the pure expression of one’s heart. The joy with which she teaches reveals her authentic love for the art of dance. Dancing with Daniela is a weaving of the richness of India's culture/spirituality with the invitation of self-inquiry, both of which support our exploration into the beauty and wisdom of the Divine Feminine.With attentiveness and poise, she is truly present to the transformative process that sacred dance brings to each of her students. Get ready to experience a joyous integration and healing of body, mind, heart and soul!
~ Crystal, California
"I am here to see you becoming your most empowered self"
Daniela
“I’ve studied Dance, mudra and mantra with Daniela Riva for four years now and I can’t gush about her enough. She is soooooo divine in every way. She has helped me realize that I can take up space. That I am enough. I just took a private dance class with her today and am also doing the online course. Do this for your soul and clear the way for a peaceful, loving and abundant new decade”
-Kris-Seraphine Oster
“The way that you teach this dance brings all of my seemingly random searches and practices together in a beautiful and meaningful motion. And it isn’t just the dance anymore. It completes the entire expression. Wow, so powerful. I am so inspired. This course has changed me forever, in just a few short hours. So grateful to learn from you, thank you for sharing your gifts, you are truly amazing!
-Rani, California
“Thank you so much for introducing me to Indian devotional dance, the sacred feminine aspect of the goddesses and the mudras. You guide us so sweetly and patiently with your chanting and dancing, and your love and knowledge of India and her treasures is so evident. I love it that you start and end each session with either a prayer or meditation and you create a safe and sacred environment for all of us. It’s all so powerful and beautiful and I’m so grateful to have this experience with you and the other women. Susan, CA
Daniela teaches Indian Dance and Yoga in Europe, America and India. Graduated cum laude in Modern Literature at Universita’ degli Studi of Milan in Italy, Daniela had been blessed with the opportunity to study the theory and practice of the Indian classical dance style Bharata Natyam in one of the most prestigious academy of India, Kalakshetra Foundation of Fine Arts in Chennai India. Granted of a scholarship from ICCR/Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy, Daniela started an intense traditional training of Indian classical dance, chants and Yoga with her gurus, in Tamil Nadu. Living long period of Indian Dance and Yoga studies in South India for more than two decades, Daniela absorbed the fascinating history of temple dances, the devotional culture, yoga spiritual philosophy and traditional life style of India. She had been researching about Sacred Dances for years in the “Theosophical Society” in Adyar, at the Krishnamurty Foundation and at the Kalakshetra Library, in Chennai. She had also learning some vocabulary of Odissi classical dance style in Pondicherry and embodiment Tantric ritual gestures and Mudras in India. Daniela had been absorbing Indian Dances as a lifestyle and she integrated it with the disciplines of Yoga and Ayurveda. She had been trained in the Viniyoga at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram of Chennai and in the full primary series of the Mysore Ashtanga Yoga with Rolf&Marci Naujokat in Goa, in India. She also been undergone an intense training of traditional oil massage Abhyangam and elements of nutrition of Ayurveda, in Kerala. Her teachers blessed her and appointed her to begin sharing this ancient dance of the Sacred Feminine, and since then she has been performing and teaching globally to hundreds of students.
Daniela embodies in her classes and dance immersions the spiritual essence of the shakti- the divine feminine power, to share the mysteries of the temple dances with all women.
Following traditional Shakta Tantra Yoga and Ayurvedic principles, she guides her students to open to the awareness and beauty of their body temple and discover the inner power of transformation encoded in this ancient sacred art. A bridge between East and West, Daniela’s devotion for Indian tradition and love to her students makes her way of teaching unique, as she continues perpetuating the tradition, making it contemporary for everybody. Daniela is currently based in Vejer de la Frontera, Andalusia, Spain, where she teaches Indian Dance, Yoga and Ayurevdic classes regularly and annually global Women retreat.