Artist, Sculptor, Curator, Gallery Director, Educator
Although Janak Khendry is best known internationally as a classical dancer, choreographer, and the artistic director of the Janak Khendry Dance Company, the following account focuses on his academic formation, sculptural practice, curatorial work, and institutional contributions, which together formed the intellectual foundation of his multidisciplinary career.
Janak Khendry (born 1938, Amritsar, India – died April 10, 2025, India) was an avid art collector, interdisciplinary artist, sculptor, curator, and educator whose career spanned India, the United States, and Canada. His life’s work bridged Indian classical traditions, modernist sculpture, and contemporary curatorial practice, with a particularly significant professional period in New York during the mid- to late 20th century.
Khendry began formal training in Indian classical dance at approximately six years of age (c. 1944), studying Kathak and later Manipuri. By sixteen (c. 1954), he had developed versatility across several classical forms. In 1955, he travelled to South India to study Bharata Natyam in Chidambaram and Kattumannar Koil, where intensive training and exposure to temple architecture and the 108 Karanas at the Chidambaram Temple sparked a lifelong interest in sculpture and the relationship between movement and form.
Following his return from South India, Khendry enrolled at the Government College of Fine Arts, Hyderabad, entering the sculpture program. By 1959, he had distinguished himself academically, graduating with honours in sculpture. His education there was based in traditional and figurative sculptural practice.
Seeking broader engagement with abstraction and modernist sculpture, Khendry relocated to the United States in the early 1960s to pursue graduate study. He enrolled at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, where he studied in both the sculpture and dance departments and completed advanced graduate work. During this period, he encountered American modern dance and sculptural theory, producing the sculptural series Graham – Floor Technique, which translated choreographic movement into sculptural form.
By the mid-1960s, Khendry had settled in New York City and worked with the Indian Mission to the United Nations. Concurrently, he maintained active involvement in the city’s arts community.
In the late 1960s, Khendry became affiliated with The Sculpture Center in New York, one of the leading nonprofit institutions dedicated to contemporary sculpture. He was invited to work with the organization and ultimately served as Gallery Director, a position he held for approximately thirteen years (c. late 1960s–early 1980s). During this tenure, he oversaw exhibitions, worked closely with exhibiting artists, and contributed to curatorial programming during a significant period for postwar American sculpture.
In 1978, Khendry formally incorporated the Janak Khendry Dance Company in New York, by which time he had already choreographed approximately twenty-five works.
In 1979, Khendry relocated permanently to Toronto, transferring his dance company and continuing his work as both an artist and curator. He co-founded The Glass Art Gallery in 1979 on Hazelton Avenue in Yorkville with Herschel Freeman, which later relocated to Dufferin Street, serving as both gallery and studio. This space housed his visual art practice and later the operations of his dance company.
Throughout the 1980s through the 2000s, Khendry maintained an active sculptural, curatorial, and research-based practice, while continuing to build a collection of works acquired through professional relationships, exhibitions, and long-term stewardship. His collection reflected sustained engagement with modernist and contemporary sculpture.
Janak Khendry died in 2025, leaving a legacy that extends beyond his celebrated achievements in dance to include a rigorous academic foundation, sustained sculptural inquiry, and influential curatorial leadership that shaped his broader artistic vision.