What defines community today? It's a word that gets tossed around easily whenever a group of people ends up in the same room. But does simply gathering people mean you've built a space where real connection happens?
Look it up, and you'll get something clinical like ‘a group of people who share a common location, identity, interest, or goal.’ But community, when it's real, goes far deeper than that, and I’ve found that it’s rare to walk into a room and feel it working the way it's supposed to.
However, that’s exactly what we found at Divya Nebel's first interactive dance performance event, which DominAsian had the pleasure of attending in July at The Manor London.
Divya has spent years building something that truly reflects her effort, talent, teaching, and passion for the South Asian dance scene here in London. You’ve probably already seen her choreography, most notably her work on Bombay Mami's music video Gulabi Mantra, where she blended semi-classical Indian dance with commercial styles into something entirely her own. But this event marked a new chapter: the first time she brought that world off-screen and into a room full of people, live.
Mirch Haus: "mirch," meaning spice in Hindi, and "haus," the German word for home, is the name of the collective she's built around that vision, fusing both her Indian and German roots. Walking into the space, the name suddenly made perfect sense… especially after seeing Divya’s performance… more on that later.
Mirch Haus took us and its audience on a journey through the breadth of South Asian performance. Sunita opened the night, and Tajinder's bhangra followed with pure percussive energy, before The Ranis (Deeksha, Pooja, Nakeisha, Nabeela, Rakshita, and Megha) brought the house down twice over with bollyfusion. Riya Rajeev's spoken word slowed the room right down, and Anjali's vocals carried that hush into the intermission. On the other side, Divya's own piece under the Mirch Haus name was the heartbeat of the evening before Flow Factory's urban choreography and The Patakas heels performance flipped the energy back up, and Mango & M2R2D closed things out still moving. Ten acts, every discipline on the bill, and never once did it feel like a lineup; it felt like one continuous conversation between artists who clearly trust each other.
This wasn't a sit-and-watch kind of show. A family effort, where Divya's family was there to support her, including her mum, Sunita Nebel, performing alongside her. Even as an audience member, you could feel the full-circle moment that made clear exactly where Divya's talent and her love for this art form comes from in the first place. You could go as far as to say ‘She got it from her mama.’
Where the aspect of community coming together came from was the fact that the audience wasn't left on the sidelines either. At one point, we were pulled up and taught garba by Bhagat Thakur, and I'll admit I have two left feet. It didn't matter. Fumbling through the steps in a room full of strangers turned out to be one of the most fun parts of the night, awkward missteps and all.
Each performance that followed left the room with chills. The energy from Divya and her fellow performers and hosts was enigmatic, the kind that keeps you sitting forward in your seat, waiting for whatever comes next. When Divya and her crew took centre stage, it clicked: the dancing left us sweating, and we weren't even the ones moving.
If there's one complaint, it's that the night ended at all. I could have sat there for hours. It's left us hoping for more from Divya soon, and honestly, we'd love to see DominAsian collaborate on one, spotlighting the incredible dancers she's scouted and choreographed dances with over the years.
What stood out most wasn't any single performance but what happened in between them. Amid the music and the dancing, the night was a constant thread of cheer, encouragement, and people hyping each other up. Strangers who arrived alone left as friends made on the dance floor, bonded over the shared, slightly panicked moment of “wait, do I go left or right?”
That's the diaspora experience Mirch Haus is built for. A space for a generation caught between honouring South Asian heritage and building something new with it, without having to choose. In a scene where "community" can mean little more than a shared hashtag, this was the real thing: a room of people who came in as strangers and left as something closer to community.
If this first night is anything to go by, Mirch Haus is only just getting started. You can follow along, catch what's next @mirchhaus on Instagram, and if the room we sat in is any indication, you'll want to get there early and be ready to dance.
