Anisha Anantpurkar is a dancer and researcher from Bangalore, India. She is trained in Kathak and has mostly performed in India. Anisha has worked in dramaturgy, research, curation and performance making. She is currently an MA student of dance anthropology and ethnochoreology. Her dissertation looks at the processes of Queering Hungarian Folk Dance Practices in Budapest, Hungary. Her research interests include gender and queer studies, disability studies, theatre and dance history.
Anisha will be involved in several presentations across the duration of the conference.
'Touring Russia: A new turn in Kathak history'
"This is a presentation based on a larger research and artistic project on cultural exchanges between Russia and India. We examine the impact of the aesthetic and disciplinary tradition of Russian Imperial ballet on Indian Independence-era Kathak proscenium choreographies of artists such as Kumudini Lakhia and Pt. Birju Maharaj. We look at Russia’s role in providing support to artists of a newly independent nation while deepening internal inequity amongst bearers of the tradition such as courtesans. We pay attention to cultural and political phenomena and concerns about ensuring artistic sustainability. We ask how this exchange impacted the aesthetic and formal choices of a “classical” dance. With India positioning itself as a nation in Non-Alliance with the West, we investigate the impact of Western curiosity about Hindu mythology, and oriental aesthetics on the transmission of the dances in India. Drawing on Stanger’s aesthetics of imperialism, we question why Russia – a colonial power as an Empire, as the USSR, and in the present day – is perceived differently by India than European colonial powers. Further, we expand into the possibilities of creating artistic performances based on this research and how decolonial perspectives can be embodied in it."
'Sick of Periods … let’s talk about cycles'
"Our project aims to reframe the often blood-centric discourses around menstruation and bring attention to wellness through critical discourse around hormones and bodies of all genders. Inspired by feminist and queer activism from our contexts, which are healing from different types of colonialism, we consider spaces of knowledge transmission around periods as heritage sites. By weaving together our historical memory of our cycles, we create a durational, interactive, and site-specific performance, involving narrations and movement from actors and audiences. We would like to use lightning talks as a way to gain input on the movement component of the performance."