About Kaustavi
Biographical Details
Dr. Kaustavi Sarkar is a professional Odissi soloist, performing and touring the eastern Indian traditional art form for the past two decades. She is an Associate Professor of Dance in the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s Department of Dance and the Regional Director for Mid Atlantic: American College Dance Association. She founded the journal South Asian Dance Intersections as well as the Odissi Odyssey conference held annually at UNC Charlotte as well as Sister Nivedita University, Kolkata. Her K-12 project combining dance, music, and drama has been recognized by National Dance Education Organization as well as National Association for Music Education, providing much needed credit, recognition, and appreciation for South Asian arts in mainstream arts education contexts in the United States.
Sarkar investigates virtuosity in dance-theater as fostered in traditional Indian aesthetics through her research on choreography and creative processes. She has commissioned works from female choreographers Dr. Ananya Chatterjea, Rohini Dandavate, Aruna Mohanty, and Maya Kulkarni to research and write about the creative process in South Asian aesthetics. Her research institute, “Dance and Community,” brings artists, educators, and scholars together towards systemic change and has been recognized by ACDA as an integrative medium for diasporic artists.
She holds advanced academic credentials in dance and performance studies and has been formally trained in multiple movement systems, integrating classical Indian dance vocabularies with contemporary analytical frameworks. Her interdisciplinary training includes study in anatomy, kinesiology, and somatic awareness, which informs her pedagogy and research on the dancing body. This strong foundation enables her to approach performance not only as an expressive art form but also as a site of critical investigation, cultural transmission, and embodied philosophy.
Sarkar holds a Ph.D. in Dance Studies (focus on Digital Humanities) from The Ohio State University (2017). She also holds an M.S. in Economics with Minor in Finance from Texas A&M University (2006).
Select Journal Publications
S Manjon, Sonia B. S, Akhona Ndzuta, Chloé Greene, Kaustavi C. Sarkar, Nicholas N. Flores, and Wen Guo. “A Transdisciplinary Approach to Mentoring Through Collaboration.” Visual Inquiry, vol. 5, no. 3, 2016, pp. 353-367.
Sarkar, Kaustavi and Torsa Ghosal. “Bar Bar Sakhi: In Search of the Queer Temporalities of Sakhya.” Friendship as Social Justice Activism: Critical Solidarities in a Global Perspective, edited by Debanuj Dasgupta, Niharika Benerjea, Rohit K. Dasgupta, and Jamie M. Grant, University of Chicago Press, 2016, pp. 56-89.
Sarkar, Kaustavi. “Ananlyzing Ananya Chatterjea’s Mohona” Scripting Dance in Contemporary India, edited by Varun Gulati and Mythili Anoop, Lexington Books, 2016, pp. 139-157.
—. “A Difficult Whole: Reading Ananya Chatterjea’s Mohona, Estuaries of Desire.” Research in Dance Education, vol. 16, no. 3, 2015, pp. 10-28.
—. “Queer Temporal Twisting of Acceptable Indigeneity: Concurrence of Odissi, Mahari, and Gotipua Performance.” Journal of Emerging Dance Scholarship, 2015.
— and Paul Boyce. “Mahari Then and Now: Queering Performativity in Odissi,” edited by Contemporary Women’s Writing in India, Lexington Books, 2014, pp. 83-79.
—. “The Frigid Description of the Dancing Body.” Performance Research, vol. 18, no. 6, 2013, pp. 38-45.
Her scholarship can be purchased below:
Centering Dance Practice in Research
Sarkar is a versatile dancer and has an active performance career in Shilpanatanam, Shankar, and Yorchha styles. Her research in South Asian aesthetics has led her to investigate choreography by Dr. Ananya Chatterjea, Dr. Maya Kulkarni, as well as Dr. Rohini Dandavate. Her book Dance Technology and Social Justice: Individual and Collective Emancipation Through Embodied Techniques (McFarland, 2024) has been featured in Dance Studies Association’s 2024-2025 Reading Seminars. Her second book project Shaping S-Curves: Choreographic Process in Odissi is due to be published by University of North Carolina Press in April 2026. Sarkar has published journal-length inquiries in International Journal of Screendance, Choreographic Practices, Journal on Dance Education, Performance Research.
Below are some works that have emerged from Sarkar’s research as a choreographer’s muse.
Woman With a Parrot
Choreography, Concept, and Scripting: Dr. Maya Kulkarni
Dancer: Kaustavi Sarkar
Music: Sudha Raghuraman
Synopsis: The piece investigates a character who is helplessly attached to her pet bird. But actually, the choreography paints two characters – the woman and the parrot – and both are rendered through the skillful artistry of the solo dancer.
Trigger
Choreography, Concept, and Scripting: Dr. Rohini Dandavate
Dancer: Kaustavi Sarkar
Music: Anirban Bhattacharyya and Ramprasad Gannavarapu
Synopsis: Trigger addresses the trauma of school shootings in the United States. The choreography resists dramatization; instead, fractured movement phrases and abrupt rhythmic pauses convey fear, shock, and moral disquiet. Odissi’s sculptural stillness is used effectively to hold silence as meaning, allowing absence and rupture to speak.
Press Mentions
Learn more about Kaustavi’s extensive research in South Asian Dance studies, her captivating performance history, and her impactful work through the following press mentions.
