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