Voyages of Body and Soul

Dr Ketu H. Katrak, originally from Bombay, is Professor in the Department of Drama at the University of California, Irvine, and specializes in drama, dance, performance theory, and postcolonial literature. Dr Katrak is the author of Contemporary Indian Dance: New Creative Choreography in India and the Diaspora (2011); Politics of the Female Body: Postcolonial Women Writers (2006); Wole Soyinka and Modern Tragedy: A Study of Dramatic Theory and Practice (1986); and essays in journals such as Amerasia and South Asian Popular Culture. Dr Katrak is the recipient of a Fulbright Research Award to India (2005–06), a University of California, Humanities Research Institute Fellowship (2002), a Bunting Fellowship (1988–89; Harvard/ Radcliffe), among other awards, and is currently on the Fulbright Senior Specialist roster (2010–2015).Dr Anita R. Ratnam, based in Chennai, India, is highly respected as a performer, writer, speaker and arts entrepreneur and culture mentor. Her career has spanned four decades, with over 1000 performances in 27 countries, and intersects the varied disciplines of dance, theatre, storytelling, feminist themes, arts production, music, and costume design. Dr Ratnam’s Neo Bharatam repertoire distills the classical dance traditions of her Bharatanatyam training with a focus on ritual traditions reinterpreted for the modern concert stage. Using voice, singing, Vedic hymns, drumming, contemporary mythology and devised movements, her various choreographies include Seven Graces, MA3KA, A Million Sitas and Neelam. Dr Ratnam is a member of the Executive Board of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and the ICCR, India’s Government panel to select performers for international tour, and is a fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a voting member of the Dance Critics Association, USA.