Performances
UpcomingDigital Vocab 2.0Solo performance, Unrehearsed Artist Residency 2026Studio 210, San Francisco · Oct 2, 2026
CodeMovesPerformance and workshops, supported by the Knight FoundationSandefur Theatre, Akron · Hangar Theatre, Detroit · Jun 2026
Decoding Digital BodiesResearch project on dance and roboticsMOCO, CRCI, Kinetic Dance Film Festival · 2024–2026
Where Things GoEvening-length performance, in developmentMedai, Bangalore · 2024–2026
Film/sliceDance film by Decoding Digital BodiesKinetic Dance Film Festival, NYC · Jan 2026
- CELSODriven Arts Collective. San Francisco, 2021–2023. CLTC Cybersecurity Arts Contest winner.
- Digital MilkDriven Arts Collective. San Francisco.
- Zaga FilmDriven Arts Collective. San Francisco, 2020. Emergence Dance Festival, 2021.
- Quarant Time FilmDriven Arts Collective. Emergence Dance Festival, 2020.
- KhoraODC. San Francisco, 2019.
- com//ense6th International Conference of Movement and Computing. Tempe, Arizona, 2019.
- vo//cabRAW Residency, SAFEHouse Arts. San Francisco, 2019.
- a/lign55Live Art Platform. Phoenix, Arizona, 2015 & Slingshot Festival. Athens, Georgia, 2015.
- NritarutyaPart-time dancer. Bangalore, India, 2010–2014.
Research
- 2026Choreographic and Improvisational Approaches To Interrogating Robotic Systems
Jessica Rajko, Varsha Iyengar, Max Merlin, Ivy He, and Elijah Lennington. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Movement and Computing (MOCO ’26), Montpellier. ACM, 2026, 1–9.
- 2017Banana Kiss: A Participatory Interactive Installation
Sanghyun Yoo and Varsha Iyengar. Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’17). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1405–1408.
- 2016Motion, Captured: an Open Repository for Comparative Movement Studies
Iyengar, Varsha, et al. Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on Movement and Computing. ACM, 2016.
- 2016Analysis of Habitual Patterns in Vernacular Movement
Iyengar, Varsha. MS Thesis, Arizona State University, 2016.
Talks & Workshops
- UpcomingCodeMoves: Body, Space, TimeWorkshopCCAM at Mana Contemporary, Chicago · Oct 17, 2026
- UpcomingDecoding Digital BodiesPaper presentationSpeculative Choreographies, Dance Studies Association, CSU Long Beach · Oct 25, 2026
- Choreographic and Improvisational Approaches to Interrogating Robotic SystemsPaper presentationMOCO ’26, Cité des Arts, Montpellier · Apr 2026
How to dance with and rapidly deactivate a robotWorkshopCRCI 2025: Moondance, Rhode Island · Jun 2025- SloMoco summer sessionMicro-residency with Driven Arts CollectiveInternational Conference on Movement and Computing · 2021
- InterviewQ&A with Varsha IyengarArtists + Machine Intelligence · Mar 2020
- FeatureSun Devils in Silicon ValleyASU News · Oct 2017
About
Varsha Iyengar is a creative technologist and movement practitioner based in San Francisco, USA and Bangalore, India. Her work largely involves integrating movement and technology to create multifaceted immersive performance environments.
With formal training in Bharathanatyam and Contemporary dance, Varsha has been a dancer for Nritarutya, an Indian Contemporary dance company in Bangalore, India. She is also a founding member of Driven Arts Collective, a California-based collective where she has developed works such as CELSO, Khora, and Digital Milk, which explores themes of digital futures co-authored by humans and AI-driven emerging technologies. These pieces have been presented at CounterPulse, SAFEhouse Arts, and ODC in San Francisco, supported by grants such as the CLTC.
Her academic work and research based on data capture and analysis of vernacular movement have been presented at multiple conferences including MOCO and CHI. She also sits on the Board of Directors at CCAM, an artist-run platform based in Chicago.
Varsha’s work is rooted in inquiry and multidisciplinary collaboration, inviting equitable and critical examinations of technology within an arts practice. Her current project, Decoding Digital Bodies, investigates how movement influences robotics research and development, with a particular focus on Boston Dynamics Spot robots. She is also directing and producing an international project based in India, Where Things Go, which is an exploration of the intricate and often unseen relationships we have with everyday objects and technological tools.

