Conference Executive Committee
Conference Executive Committee
Kaustavi Sarkar, Conference Coordinator:Kaustavi Sarkar is a professional Odissi soloist, performing and touring the eastern Indian traditional art form for the past two decades. In a recent review of a February 2025 performance in New Delhi, India, critic Ashish Mohan Khokar wrotethat in her dance “one saw clarity of poses and emotional range.” Sarkar investigates virtuosity in dance-theater as fostered in traditional Indian aesthetics through her research on choreography and creative processes. She has commissioned works from female choreographers Ananya Chatterjea, Rohini Dandavate, Aruna Mohanty, and Maya Kulkarni to research and write about the creative process in South Asian aesthetics. Sarkar has published journal-length inquiries in International Journal of Screendance, Choreographic Practices, Journal on Dance Education, Performance Research etc. Her book Dance Technology and Social Justice: Individual and Collective Emancipation Through Embodied Techniques (McFarland, 2024) has been featured in Dance Studies Association’s 2024-2025 Reading Seminars. She is working on another monograph, Shaping S Curves: Choreographic Process in Odissi, which is currently in contract with University of North Carolina Press. Sarkar is a leader in her field and serves as a Regional Director for the American College Dance Association (ACDA) mid-Atlantic region. Her research institute, “Dance and Community,” brings artists, educators, and scholars together towards systemic change and has been recognized by ACDA as an integrative medium for diasporic artists. She is the founding member as well as business manager for the journal South Asian Dance Intersections. She is also the founder of the Odissi Odyssey conference held annually at UNC Charlotte, which is the largest gathering of Odissi artists outside India.
Shalini Basu, Assistance Conference Coordinator: Shalini Basu is a disciple of Odissi, which is an Indian classical dance originating in the state of Odisha. Shalini has been under the tutelage of Guru Kaustavi Sarkar since 2012. She completed her undergraduate education in December 2024 from Pace University in New York, New York. Born in New Jersey and raised in Ohio, Shalini finds Odissi to be her primary medium in which she connects with her cultural and ethnic background. She has offered solo recitals in Ohio and has worked for her Guru's company regionally, nationally, as well as internationally. Shalini has also been recognized nationally as the first Odissi dancer to be awarded the National YoungArts award for Dance in 2021. She has worked closely as an apprentice to master artists such as Maya Kulkarni. Shalini completed her senior thesis on hierarchies in Indian Classical Dance and continues to explore and write on these topics.
Lisa Santhanam, Conference Business Manager: Lisa Santhanam is a distinguished and accomplished performing artist and educator based in Washington, D.C., with over 20 years of expertise in Odissi dance. Trained under the revered Gurus Rantkant and Sujata Mohapatra, Lisa has meticulously honed her craft to the highest standards. Her teaching approach is refined through extensive study and regular online classes with prominent Srjan teachers, Lisa's captivating solo performances have graced some of the most prestigious festivals worldwide, including the Natyanjali Festival in Tamil Nadu, Odissi International, and numerous renowned festivals both in the United States and abroad. As a former repertoire member of the esteemed Odissi Dance Company under Dr. Aparupa Chatterjee, Lisa was exposed to choreographic techniques and production development. A recipient of the esteemed Devdasi Award for her exceptional contributions to Odissi, Lisa is not only a celebrated performer but also a passionate educator. Through her dance school, Odissi Lasya, she dedicates herself to nurturing the next generation of talented dancers, passing on her rich legacy and deep understanding of Odissi dance.
Sinjini Chatterjee, Lead Research Coordinator: Sinjini Chatterjee holds a PhD from the University of California, Riverside. Her work traces interdependence between Odissi dance (A South Asian ‘classical’ dance style) and other non-classical folk, tribal, and ritualist performance practices of Odisha. Chatterjee has trained for 15 years in Odissi dance under the guidance of Smt. Aloka Kanungo, and has performed widely in India and the United Kingdom.Chatterjee’s research lies at the intersection of caste, class, gender, and performance politics in South Asia. In the past decade there has been significant scholarly work on Indian ‘classical’ dance that illustrates these forms’ relationship to the Indian state. However, there exists a lacuna in critiquing the category of ‘classical’ and on examining interconnections between classical and indigenous dance forms. Her research investigates inequalities, hierarchies, and epistemic violence in Indian dance practices, focusing on the vexed category of ‘classical’ which was formed at the nexus of Indian nationalism, colonial modernity, economic inequality, and caste-based violence. Indian Classical Dance exploits the marginalized folk and ritual dancer’s body in order to generate economic and cultural capital. Following this, Chatterjee’s ethnography and archival analysis based project studies contemporary choreographies of Odissi (a South-Asian ‘classical’ dance) choreographers who incorporate these marginalized dance-forms into their choreographies. Alongside, it traces the history of the marginalized performance practices of Odisha (a state in Eastern India) through oral narratives and movement repertoire of the underrepresented artist communities. In studying the history of the marginalized performances and the contemporary ‘classical dance’ choreographies which incorporate these performances, her research reveals previously overlooked performance histories, highlights the contribution of caste-class oppressed artists in forming the cultural heritage of India, and strives to develop a theoretical framework of decoloniality with regards to Indian performance practices.
