ABOUT

Preethi Ramaprasad (she/her) is a multifaceted transnational dancer, musician, and researcher based in San Francisco. She has toured and performed Bharatanatyam, a form of South Indian dance, across India, Europe, and the United States.

A disciple of Prof. Sudharani Raghupathy and Padma Srinivasan, she is committed to South Asian art around the world in scholarship and performance. Ramaprasad co-curates the “Varnam Salon,” “Performing Voices of Bhakti,” and San Francisco’s first South Asian choreography festival, “When Eyes Speak,” which are all initiatives designed to create inclusive spaces for sharing expressive culture in the diaspora.

Ramaprasad’s workshops on Bharatanatyam and its global politics have been presented at various institutions including Barnard College, the Juilliard School of the Arts, Sonoma State University, Heart with Lines by Alonzo King, and Young Arts. Her work has been funded by and earned accolades from: San Francisco Arts Commission; Gluck Fellows Program of the Arts; Zellerbach Family Foundation; American Conservatory Theater ArtShare Fellowship; Deborah Slater Dance Theater Residency; SAFEhouse Arts Lead Artist Fellowship, All-Rounder Yuva Kala Bharati for Young Artists; Guru Sanjukta Panigrahi Award; and the National YoungArts Scholarship to name a few.

Ramaprasad is a doctoral candidate in Critical Dance Studies at University of California, Riverside. Her research focuses on representation and the performance of myth among transnational Bharatanatyam practitioners. Her choreography centers around experimenting with Bharatanatyam as a transnational dancer through poetry, community building, and storytelling.