Andrew ChatfieldOctober 11, 20237min
Wesleyan’s annual Navaratri Festival celebrated the diversity of Indian music and dance from October 5 through October 8, 2023. "Over its 47 years, our festival continues to widen representation, to expand the classical canon of Indian arts and who is allowed to perform it, and to rigorously engage with South Asian culture through a creative lens," said Fiona Coffey, Associate Director for Programming and Performing Arts. Coffey mentioned Wesleyan’s new major as part of the Global South Asian Studies program, which offers students opportunities to explore the cultures connected to the region through a diverse set of disciplines. ”We're incredibly excited…

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Mike MavredakisSeptember 20, 20238min
Robyn Autry, Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life; Hari Krishnan, Professor of Dance; and Francis Starr, Foss Professor of Physics, Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and Professor of Integrative Sciences, have received the 2023 award for excellence in research. The awards—going to those who demonstrate excellence in their research, scholarship, and contributions to their field—were announced at the first faculty meeting of the year, held in early September. Autry, recipient of the faculty research prize in the social sciences, is a strong voice in the study of racial identity,…

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Andrew ChatfieldOctober 11, 20228min
The New England Foundation for the Arts awarded over $2 million to this year’s National Dance Project Production Grant recipients and finalists on September 28. Five of the 36 dance companies have close ties to Wesleyan University, from faculty and alumni to collaborative partners and guest artists. Twenty grantees will each receive $56,500 to create and tour a new dance work, and in support of production residencies and community engagement. The companies will also receive $10,000 in general operating support. And $700,000 is allocated to support U.S. organizations to present the projects in-person, digitally, or via new hybrid models. Hari…

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Olivia DrakeMarch 14, 20227min
Every year, Wesleyan's Dance Department faculty teach hundreds of students how to master ballet, West African, Indonesian, South Asian, Afro-Brazillian, and even hip-hop dance moves. But these scholar-teachers also work beyond the classroom, sharing their art with the general population. Last month, the work of three Wesleyan dance faculty caught the attention of the world-renowned Jacob's Pillow dance center. Jacob's Pillow is home to America's longest-running international dance festival and hosts performances, lectures, tours, films, artist talks, and exhibits, and boasts one of the most meticulously maintained dance archives in the country. "The Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival is one of…

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Olivia DrakeDecember 7, 20202min
A book written by Hari Krishnan, professor and chair of dance, received a special citation by the awards committee of the Dance Studies Association. Krishnan's Celluloid Classicism: Early Tamil Cinema and the Making of Modern Bharatanatyam (Wesleyan University Press, 2019) was honored with the 2020 de la Torre Bueno® First Book Special Citation for being an "invaluable addition to scholarship on Bharatanatyam in the crucial period between the 1930s and 1950s, offering an impeccably researched and well-argued revision of the common recounting of this phase of the dance’s history." Krishnan’s archival work "is impeccable," the citation reads, "combining interviews with…

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Olivia DrakeNovember 23, 20208min
In South Asia, particularly in India, people are born into a caste system that determines their social status, career, and access to resources and opportunities. Under Brahmins (priests, intellectuals), Kshatriyas (military, warriors), Vaishyas (merchants, farmers), and Shudras (laborers, servants) are Dalits, also known as the "untouchables." Those in the Dalit caste group struggle with oppression and discrimination and are considered "dirty" and spiritually polluting. On Nov. 21, Wesleyan's South Asian students' association Shakti presented a conversation titled "Caste Conundrum and Identity Politics." Panelists included Hari Krishnan, professor of dance; Indira Karamcheti, associate professor of American studies; Manjula Pradeep, a human…

Olivia DrakeMay 31, 202010min
Wesleyan's Board of Trustees recently announced the promotions of nine faculty members, effective July 1, 2020. Five faculty were conferred tenure with promotion. They join six other faculty members who were awarded tenure earlier this spring. Joslyn Barnhart Trager, associate professor of government Anthony Keats, associate professor of economics Andrew Quintman, associate professor of religion Michael Slowik '03, associate professor of film studies Takeshi Watanabe, associate professor of East Asian studies In addition, four faculty members are being promoted. They join one other faculty member who was promoted earlier this spring. Erika Franklin Fowler, professor of government Barbara Juhasz, professor…

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Olivia DrakeDecember 12, 20192min
Hari Krishnan, associate professor of dance, is the author of a new book, Celluloid Classicism: Early Tamil Cinema and the Making of Modern Bharatanatyam, published by Wesleyan University Press in August 2019. According to the publisher: Celluloid Classicism provides a rich and detailed history of two important modern South Indian cultural forms: Tamil Cinema and Bharatanatyam dance. It addresses representations of dance in the cinema from an interdisciplinary, critical-historical perspective. The intertwined and symbiotic histories of these forms have never received serious scholarly attention. For the most part, historians of South Indian cinema have noted the presence of song and…

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Cynthia RockwellMay 9, 20192min
Hari Krishnan, associate professor of dance, brought his Toronto-based company inDANCE to the Center for the Arts Theater for a Spring Faculty Dance Concert on April 26–27, with the New England premiere of SKIN. InDANCE is a progressive Canadian dance company whose work transcends boundaries of the familiar and culturally traditional. Offering, instead, surprising juxtapositions in styles, manner, and dress, inDANCE “subverts clichéd representations of ‘classical’ Indian dance, and speaks with an ‘obscenely loud,’ inimitable, and unorthodox global voice," as noted in the program Krishnan prepared for the event. SKIN, composed of five pieces, brought together on stage several members…

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Olivia DrakeJune 4, 20182min
"16 Shades of Red," a full-length choreography created by Hari Krishnan, associate professor of dance, premiered at the Mondavi Center at the University of California, Davis, on May 12 and 13. Krishnan is a member of inDANCE, one of Canada's most progressive dance companies. "16 Shades of Red," presented in two chapters, integrates original courtesan dance from South India, complex choreography, and live music. Watch a video of his performance below: [youtube width="700" height="450"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajR3keGPns8[/youtube] At Wesleyan, Krishnan teaches Bharata Natyam, or South Indian classical dance. "BN1 and BN3 students had performed material this semester at Wesleyan so incredibly well, and it was…

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Lauren RubensteinMarch 22, 20174min
In the March 21 issue, the Toronto Star profiles Associate Professor of Dance Hari Krishnan in connection with his latest full-length work, "Holy Cow(s)!" Krishnan discusses the ways in which he often endures "ridiculous if non-malevolent cultural prejudices," such as assumptions that he practices yoga or doesn't eat beef due to his Indian heritage. Krishnan would prefer people to look beyond the stereotypes, beyond what he calls such false binaries as East/West, white/coloured, masculine/feminine, tradition/modernity. Says Krishnan: “I’m brown. I’m a beef-eating Hindu from Singapore and I’m proudly gay. I’m not a tourism poster.” Krishnan, an award-winning dancer/choreographer, is founder of the performing company…