Researchers - Ananya Chatterjea

Ananya Chatterjea is an artist and activist, Artistic Director of Women in Motion, and also Assistant Professor of Dance at University of Minnesota at Minneapolis. Trained initially in Indian classical and folk dance traditions, she became a well-known exponent of the Odissi style of classical dance under the tutelage of her internationally acclaimed guru, Sanjukta Panigrahi, at a young age. She performed and toured widely at this time, dancing with more community based companies such as the Ashramic Sangha and Government initiatives such as the Inter-state Cultural Exchange Programs.
She trained subsequently in dance forms from various different cultures, including modern dance styles such as Graham and Limon, and various styles of African dance. Ananya came to the US in 1989 in her search for more innovative ways to conceptualize the dancing body. She also completed a Master's Degree in Dance from Teacher's College, Columbia University, as the recipient of an International Scholarship. Ananya also worked as Manager of the Asian American Dance Theatre based in NYC for 3 years, with whom she also performed and toured, before she joined the doctoral program at Temple University's Dance Program as a Russell Conwell Scholar. She earned her doctorate in 1996 With Distinction along with Certification in Women's Studies.

Disillusioned with the commercialization that had become attendant upon Indian classical dance forms, and vitally interested in the creation of a contemporary Indian dance mode, Ananya began her explorations of form and theme in dance in the 1980's. Now she has formalized an idiom that is based on deconstructions of movements from classical dance forms, yoga, and martial art forms such as Kalarippayattu and Chhau. Celebrated as one of the important choreographers defining the field of contemporary South Asian dance, Ananya is also the Artistic Director of Women In Motion, a company of South Asian women doing political theatre, and creates pieces about issues in the lives of women of color, particularly women of South Asian origin. Ananya is indebted for her choreographic insights to teachers like Janet Soares, who mentored her in Columbia University, Anna Sokolow, with whom she trained intensely but briefly in New York City, and Bessie Schoenberg, who worked with her in Jacob's Pillow, where Ananya studied with a scholarship in 1993, as well as the gurus she worked with India, from whom she imbibed about about structure. Ananya is the proud recipient of grants from prestigious organizations such as the New York Foundation on the Arts, Asian Arts Initiative, Mcknight Foundation and Bush Foundation. Ananya's artistic work continues to be embedded in activist concerns and she creates pieces that raise questions about the lives of South Asian women. Ananya has taught in the Dance Departments of the Boston Conservatory of Dance, Wellesley College, Swarthmore College, Bryn Mawr College, and in the Women's Studies Program of Temple University. Ananya is Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre Arts & Dance, UMN and teaches courses on Dance History and Philosophy & Aesthetics.

Recent performances and presentations include Theaterlabor (Bielefeld, Germany), New World Theater (MA), Canada Council on the Arts (Ottawa, Cananda), Under the Stars Festival (Kuala Lampur, Malaysis), Nehru Center (London, UK), and Habitat Center (Delhi, India), National Center for Performing Arts (Bombay, India), and other locations. Upcoming engagements include choreographic collaborations with modern/Jazz choreographer Tommy DeFrantz; an artist residency at MIT, Boston; performances at Texas and in India. Ananya is also the recipient of this year's Bush Artist Fellowship for her choreographic work.

Working innovatively with classical and folk dance forms, and drawing inspiration from street theater traditions in India, Ananya is well-known for her excellent artistic work surrounding issues in the lives of South Asian women. Her work is celebrated as having expanded the emotional and formal boundaries of Indian dance, and for the passion of her own dancing. Her performance and choreography in her recently produced evening-length work A Wife's Letter brought her much acclaim and she was described in the press as "one of the city's most talented artist" and a "breath-taking performer whose work challenges the limits of our visual imagination".