ABOUT SANDRA

Cultivating an aesthetic that reflects the nomadic qualities of her life, Dr. (ucla) Sandra Chatterjee combines her interests of choreographing, writing, and organizing arts-related events/platforms. Sandra holds a PhD in Culture & Performance (University of California, Los Angeles - UCLA), where she also taught as a visiting scholar. She also completed a diploma in "Kultur und Organisation" in Vienna.  She is a co-founder of the Post Natyam Collective, a transnational network of independent choreographers/scholars, working in body based performance, video, and scholarship.

In her scholarship, which has most recently been presented at “Re-Searching Dance: International Conference on Dance Research” (World Dance Alliance
Asia/Pacific) in New Delhi and by ALF/CSCS, Bangalore (2009), she continually strives to intersect research, theorization and artistic practice.

Sandra’s training in Kuchipudi provides a foundation from which to create choreography, also drawing on her training in Bharatanatyam, Polynesian dance, modern/postmodern dance, and yoga. She received the Hawaii State dance Council's Choreographic Award and Cultural Preservation Award. Her professional experience includes solo performances in classical Indian dance as well as contemporary performance. She has, among others, worked with choreographers and artists Liz Lerman, Pichet Klunchun, Guillermo Gomez-Pena, and collaborated with Eko Supriyanto (Indonesia), Aditee Biswas (India), P.Senthilkumar (Austria).

Her work (collaborative and solo) has been performed in Germany, the UK, the Czech Republic and India, e.g. at the prestigious THE OTHER FESTIVAL, Adhyaya and NATYA/STEM, Bangalore, at Neues Haus der Kammerspiele and Theatron, Munich, at Chandra-Mandapa-Spaces, Chennai, at Völkerkunde Museum, Vienna, and at Tanzhaus NRW, Düsseldorf.

photo: Anjali Bhargava