Chitra Sundaram

🪔 About

Chitra Sundaram is a highly respected figure in the realm of Bharatanatyam, recognized as a dance-theatre performer, choreographer, researcher, lecturer, trainer, and dramaturg. She received extensive training in Bharatanatyam from illustrious teachers in Bombay and Madras, including Venugopal Pillai, Kalyanasundaram Pillai, Nana Kasar, Kittappa Pillai, and Kalanidhi Narayanan. Sundaram has performed widely across the UK, India, and Europe, and is acknowledged as an early and significant contributor to the success and development of South Asian dance in Britain. Her innovative work has garnered support from the Arts Council of England and other official organizations in London. As a choreographer, her productions range from traditional full-evening classical solos to site-specific, mixed-genre ensemble dance-theatre. Notably, her latest production, "Moham - A Magnificent Obsession," is an unconventional Bharatanatyam piece. In the early 1980s, she co-created and toured "Visions of Rhythm" with Corinne Bougaard, which was one of the UK's pioneering "fusion" dance works. Her solo work was also shortlisted for the British Dance Edition (BDE) in 2015, and her commissions include prestigious institutions like the Royal Opera House's ROH2 programme, South Bank Centre's Alchemy Festival, Akademi, and Trafalgar Square Festival. Beyond her performance career, Chitra Sundaram is an Associate Lecturer in the Department of Drama and Performance at Goldsmiths, University of London, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts (FRSA). She has also served as the editor for several years of "Pulse," a prominent UK-based South Asian dance magazine, and holds positions as a trustee of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) and a member of its Classical Indian Dance Faculty Committee. She also contributes in advisory and trustee capacities to various private and public organizations. Her work consistently challenges and showcases her foundational Indian classical dance-theatre techniques while exploring other Indian and non-Indian performance forms.