Renuka Garg

Program Developer | Arts

Tell us about yourself. 

I was born in San Jose, CA and grew up in the same house in the South Bay since I was 2 years old. Living in the Bay Area my whole life, along with having a big extended family throughout the Bay Area, gave me both physical and emotional roots that have shaped who I am today. Art, dance, and movement were central to my childhood. I started dancing Bharatanatyam when I was 4, and of the many roles I played, performing male roles in the stories we told offered me an opportunity to question social norms around gender and sexuality. At the same time, my body has always been under scrutiny because I have always been fat, which made it incredibly clear to me the consequences of contradicting the norms of the society around me. This experience was one part of my political journey towards becoming a community organizer and artist. As an artist, I am a dancer in the Duniya Dance & Drum Company, where I am constantly inspired to investigate how dance can be a tool for political resistance. I am also a 2025 resident in Nava Dance Theater’s Unrehearsed Artist Residency, in which I am choreographing a piece about my personal journey of politicization. I earned my undergraduate degree at UC Berkeley and am pursuing an M.A. in Global Studies there, researching how classicized dance is used to influence both othering and belonging within the Indian American diaspora. I'm an organizer with Lavender Phoenix, a queer organizing group that has taught me what it means to build a world based on inclusive values, principled struggle, and radical hope. Through all that I do, I value my relationships with people above all else, recognizing that honest conversation and constructive conflict is a beautiful part of what helps us deepen our understanding of one another, and build authentic community.

What motivates you to be part of the Banyan Tree? I'm motivated by the potential for our shared cultural backgrounds and differences to bring people together so we can build a better world together. The Banyan Tree was born from a radical dream and that is what it strives to create — a space for radical dreaming where we can challenge our worldviews and create new futures together. There are so few truly inclusive spaces for the South Asian diaspora, and I am so excited that the Banyan Tree is working to change that.

If you could be a potato, how would you be prepared? I don’t actually like potatoes (sorry) — BUT I think I would be an aloo paratha because it is compact, hearty, and it can make a meal just absolutely hit. 

We asked our team, “What is Renuka’s superpower?” Here’s what one person said. “Renuka is a superstar with infinite superpowers - but perhaps her greatest superpower is her capacity to dream. The Banyan Tree was first born out of a dream that Renuka voiced. Renuka is a true community organizer, in that she not only dreams, she then shares her dreams with others, and brings people together to bring that shared dream to life.”