Anita Ratnam
classical and contemporary dancer and choreographer
Anita Ratnam, one of India's most gifted artists, is an accomplished neo-classical
and contemporary dance-actor, whose career spans four decades and
performances in 25 countries.
She has received numerous awards and recognition for her work in the performing
arts in India and abroad as a choreographer, scholar and cultural activist.
A modernist, passionately convinced about creating from her immediate
environment, Ratnam has explored various streams of movement and ritual
traditions connected with her initial training in classical Bharatanatyam. Ensemble
and solo works that echo her strong Indian/Asian aesthetic of silence, meditation,
devotion and adoration, Ratnam uses her personal life experience and the
full canvas of a woman’s world to paint her original dance-scapes.
Anita Ratnam is an emerging icon of modernist thought rooted in her Indian
aesthetic and is a multiple award winning artiste in her country as well
as a sought after speaker, writer and storyteller on culture, performance and
women’s imaging in society.
She has an MA in Theatre and Television from the University of New Orleans and
has just been conferred a PHD in Women’s Studies from Mother Teresa University,
Chennai on the role of women temple artistes in ritual theatre.
As a cultural entrepreneur, Ratnam has founded www.narthaki.com, the
celebrated Indian dance portal; revived and restaged KAISIKI NATAKAM a 13th
century ritual theatre performance in her ancestral village and co-founded and
curated THE OTHER FESTIVAl, India’s first annual contemporary dance festival.
Anita Raajyalaxmi Ratnam
Citizen of India
Resident of Chennai, Tamilnadu
BA English Literature
MA Drama and Television Univeristy of New Orleans, USA
Post Graduate Diploma in Classical Dance From Kalakshetra Academy Chennai
Founder and Host of CINEMA CINEMA and INDIGO. Two weekly television shows
in New York. 1981- 1990.
These were the first shows on television in the USA for the Asian Indian
community. The shows covered film, public affairs, politics, society and social
concerns of the immigrant diaspora
Host of
EMERGING POWERS – A look at India, China, Mexico and Brazil
Produced by Wall Street Journal and broadcast on Public Broadcasting, USA
Nominated for Emmy and Ace awards for special interest Programming
Host of FIREWORKS AROUND THE WORLD ( India segment)
Produced by Arts and Entertainment, USA
A look at India’s growing fireworks’ business
Has interviewed world leaders like late Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv
Gandhi, Ravi Shankar, Mikhael Gorbachev,, Henry Kissinger,
Entertainment icons like Shirley Maclaine, Roger Moore, Ben Kingsley, Richard
Attenborough as well as numerous Bollywood stars.
Co-ordinator for ABC and CBS networks in the 1984 and 1991 during the
assassinations of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi
Serves on the board of numerous arts and women’s rights organizations in India,
including the Sangeet Natak Akademi and Indian Council for Cultural Relations,
New Delhi.
Is a voting member of the Dance Critics Association, USA
A life member of INTACH, an organization focused on architectural preservation in
India
Life Member of the Crafts Council, dedicated to promoting traditional textiles
around the world.
Publisher of three books
Narthaki – a directory of Indian dance, 1991 and 1997
Nirmalam – the genius of S Sarada ( a homage to her late dance guru
Has choreographed several solo and ensemble group productions in dance and
theatre.
A spokesperson for contemporary dance and women’s rights
Has addressed theatre, dance and religion departments in US universities and
museums like
New York University
Mt Holyoke College
University of California, Irvine and San Diego
Wesleyan University
George Washington University
Middlebury College
Peabody Essex
Chicago Institute of Art
Smithsonian
Museum of Natural History
Brooklyn Museum of Art]
Cleveland Museum of Art
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Asia Society
A weekly columnist in THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS on society and culture
Articles have appeared in international publications on dance and culture
An active storyteller and President of the Chennai Chapter of the Storytelling
Association of India