Tanusree Shankar

Tanusree Shankar (born 16 March 1956) is one of the leading dancers and choreographers of contemporary dance in India and is based in Kolkata, India. She earned her fame as a danseuse as the leading dancer of the Ananda Shankar Centre for Performing Arts in the 1970s and 1980s.

Tanusree Shankar was born in Calcutta. Her husband, the late Ananda Shankar, was a world famous music composer who experimented with fusion music. He was the son of world famous dancers, Pandit Uday Shankar & Amala Shankar, and also the nephew of the sitar maestro Ravi Shankar.

Tanusree Shankar now leads the Tanusree Shankar Dance Company, one of the leading exponents of contemporary dance forms in India. She has evolved her own modern idiom by marrying the grace and beauty of traditional Indian dances with the soul of modern western ballet expressions. She has been inspired both by her illustrious lineage as much by the folk and regional dance forms of India. Her late father-in-law the legendary Uday Shankar is regarded as a pioneer of modern Indian Dance who performed with such ballet greats as Anna Pavlova. She has also drawn extensively from rich local Indian traditions such as the "Thang-ta" (Manipuri Sword dance).

She travels with her troupe extensively around the world. Her last notable productions include "Uttaran" (upliftment of the soul) and "Chirantan" (The eternal) which is based on Rabindranath Tagore's music.

External links

• Tanusree Shankar Dance Company
• Sarah Kaufman, An Indian Oasis Amid Modernity, Washington Post, published Saturday, September 22, 2007, p C05 accessed 23 September 2007