Vishnu Arunasalam

🪔 About

Vishnu Arunasalam is an emerging Sri Lankan (Eelam)-born, Australian-raised art-maker based in Sydney, Australia, who explores the traditional Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam alongside a developing contemporary dance practice. His artistic work often delves into his Queer South Asian diaspora identity within the contemporary Australian landscape. He is a senior disciple of Suresh and Shobana at the Samarpana Institute of Dance in Sydney, where he has trained in Bharatanatyam. He performed his debut solo recital, or arangetram, on August 7, 2022. Arunasalam is also developing his contemporary dance practice under the guidance of renowned contemporary dancer Martin Del Amo. As a performer and choreographer, Arunasalam has presented his first solo contemporary dance work, "MUGAVARI" (Tamil for "Identity"), for DirtyFeet's 2024 Out of Studio Program. He collaborated with Dance Makers Collective on their work "All in" for the Sydney Festival 2025. He was also the artistic director for the dance film "Our Country" in 2018, a project by the Samarpana Institute of Dance that was selected for the Rollout Dance Film Festival in 2020. In October 2024, he was involved as a dancer in the "UNVEILINGS // Mudrāsā" residency at Critical Path, collaborating with Rakini Devi and Amy Flannery. He is also a practitioner of Carnatic Music and Nattuvangam. Beyond his artistic pursuits, Vishnu Arunasalam works as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in End of Life and Palliative Care, a field that informs his artistic investigations into the intersection of dance, health, and wellbeing. He is scheduled to perform a solo margam in October 2025 as part of a new concert series by the Samarpana Institute of Dance.