Brooklyn born and raised, multi-hyphante and avid learner of all things.
Meet Asha
Asha Mody (she/her) is a South Asian multimedia artist from Brooklyn, New York. She grew up dancing at Kanyok Arts Initiative, studying theater at both Saint Ann’s School and Stagedoor Manor, and learning film as a NY Fellow with Ghetto Film School. At Stagedoor Manor she was a four time winner of Stagedoor Manor’s Dramafest Program. Asha is currently studying at the University of Southern California (USC) majoring in Dramatic Arts with an emphasis in Directing and pursuing a minor in dance in the Glorya Kaufman School of Dance.
At USC, Asha has been the assistant director on Guys and Dolls (Fall 2025, dir. Michael Schwartz) and most recently the assistant director of Legally Blonde (Spring 2026, dir. Scott Faris), both of which were mainstage musicals for the School of Dramatic Arts. She used her dance background combined with a keen eye for detail to assist with choreography, staging, and more.
Asha is also part of the Thematic Option Humanities honors program at USC and was selected to present her research at the Thematic Option Conference in Spring 2025. Her paper, titled “Archives in Motion: Akram Khan's XENOS as Embodied Historiography,” mapped the intersections of classical Kathak and contemporary dance as a means of reclaiming the erased histories of 1.5 million Indian colonial soldiers. By analyzing the performer’s body as a living archive, she explored how dance functions as a political act of resistance against "imperial amnesia" and colonial narratives.
Outside of USC, Asha was lucky enough to make her off-off-Broadway debut as the Assistant Director of BITCHES (August 2025, dir. Maya Shore) at the East Village Basement and also worked as a development intern with FilmNation (Summer 2025). At FilmNation, Asha wrote daily script coverage, assisted in day to day office tasks, and sat in on weekly meetings.
Asha also works as a performance photographer for theater and dance companies in New York and LA. She is part of the comms team at USC Kaufman capturing events, performances, and moments in studio and onstage alike. She is a photographer for SPEC Magazine and recently captured the spread for Spring 2026 surrounding the theme of Mourning Rituals. // @asha_mody
What Sets Me Apart
Conceptual Aesthetic Vision
I synthesize the narrative structure of a director, the physical knowledge of a dancer, and the compositional eye of a photographer to ensure every project is visually cohesive and emotionally resonant across a given medium.
Embodied Historiography
My work sees movement as an essential tool in storytelling and articulating the archive of the work. I utilize deep resarch and dramaturgy to portray a given narrative and challenge sociopolitical norms through the visceral power of performance.
Multidisciplinary Driven Fusion
Whether in the rehearsal room or behind the lens, I use a research-based approach to transform complex themes - such as ritual, memory, and environment - into evocative visual stories that invite an active audience.