Swati made her mark as a reputed Bharatanatyam classical stage artist by synthesizing key elements of classical dramaturgy into both traditional and contemporary choreography in the performing arts. She has performed extensively around the world.
Swati Bhise is the director, writer, and producer of the 2019 period drama The Warrior Queen of Jhansi, based on the life of the iconic rani of Jhansi. It was the first film featuring an Indian woman to receive the Film of Impact Award at the Vancouver International Women in Film Festival and the prestigious ReFrame Stamp for gender parity in film. Inspired by the film, she also founded The Warrior Queen Project, a nonprofit advocacy organization. She launched the program in Las Vegas at the University of Nevada, where she introduced it at the COLA School as the program to empower young women.
Swati is executive producer and Indian cultural consultant for The Man Who Knew Infinity, an Ed Pressman Film.
In 2012, Swati founded The Sadir Theater Festival. She served as a virtual ambassador of Indian culture and classical arts in New York for 40 years and founded Sanskriti Centre, a nonprofit organization that promoted Indian artists and introduced Indian classical arts to a generation of American children.
In 2017 she was invited to open the renowned Newport Jazz Festival with her original Carnatic-Jazz fusion composition. In 2015, she conducted her first Jazz and Carnatic music symphony at Jazz at Lincoln Centre to a full house, winning her wide acclaim in the Wall Street Journal.
Swati Bhisé was an artist in residence at The Brearley School, New York for 22 years and remains an artist in residence at Lincoln Centre Institute and Symphony Space with an emphasis on arts in education.
Swati serves as an advisor to the Center for Social Research. She is also an outspoken advocate for women’s empowerment with a focus on Southeast Asia and The Warrior Queen of Jhansi was the culmination of many years of work in this sphere. Bhisé received 2023 Asian Arts Game Changer & Visionary Award from the Asia Society. In 2022 she also received the “Leadership Award” from Arts4All Foundation. The Warrior Queen Project collaborated with The Center for Social Research in India on a paper for the United Nations Council, “Right to an Inclusive, Safe and Secure Digital Existence for Women and Girls.”
