Feriyal Amal Aslam

🪔 About

Feriyal Amal Aslam is a distinguished Pakistani-Indonesian Bharatanatyam dancer, dance history scholar, choreographer, and cultural diplomat. Born in Islamabad, Pakistan, she received her foundational training in Bharatanatyam from the legendary Pakistani maestro Indu Mitha, learning the dance form in its indigenized context. Aslam holds a PhD in Culture and Performance from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), which she pursued on a Fulbright scholarship, with her dissertation focusing on "Choreographing [in] Pakistan: Indu Mitha, Dancing Occluded histories in 'The Land of the Pure'" (2012). She also earned an MA in Anthropology from Quaid-e-Azam University in 1999. Her career spans performance, research, and teaching. Aslam has performed solo pieces choreographed by her guru, Indu Mitha, such as "Ode to Wisdom and Beauty" in 2017. She is actively involved in cultural diplomacy, using dance as a medium for peace-building and interfaith harmony, particularly in her work titled "From Java to Indus: Dance Journey from Pakistan, Indonesia and to the World," which premiered in Islamabad in 2019. She has also served as an assistant professor and headed the Department of Development Studies at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) until June 2015. Currently residing in Indonesia, she continues to engage in interdisciplinary teaching and research, focusing on the spiritual ecology of Bharatanatyam dance and its role in cultural understanding. Her scholarly contributions include forthcoming articles and book chapters on South Asian dance and cultural histories. Awards & Honours: Fulbright Scholarship.