Dr. Kaberi Chatterjee

🪔 About

Dr. Kaberi Chatterjee is a distinguished Indian classical dancer, recognized as a leading exponent of traditional Manipuri dance and an authority on the Tagore dance form. Her passion for dance began at the age of three, leading to her first public performance at four in Siuri, near Kolkata. She pursued her higher education at Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan, where she earned first-class Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Manipuri dance. Dr. Chatterjee holds the distinction of being the first person to obtain a PhD in Dance from Visva-Bharati University, with her doctoral thesis focusing on the influences of various dance styles on the Tagore dance form. Her training in Manipuri dance began with Madhab Mukherjee and continued with K. Jiten Singh. She also received special Manipuri theory classes from A. Amubi Singh from 1993 until his passing in 1996, and was taught by Y. Hemant Kumar Singh and K. Sunita Singh. Additionally, she studied Kathakali as a subsidiary subject under T. Shankar Narayan, Sadanam Harikumar, and T.S. Vasunni, and took private Bharatanatyam classes with T. Shankar Narayan. Dr. Chatterjee has performed extensively across India and internationally, with tours to Japan, Bangladesh, and Europe. She has performed lead roles in film versions of Rabindranath Tagore's dance-dramas, including "Chitrangada," "Chandalika," and "Shyama," and has choreographed and performed in Tagore's musicals. She has also taught Manipuri and Tagore dance to undergraduate and Master's students at Sangeet Bhavan and was an Associate Professor (retd.) at Scottish Church College, Kolkata. Awards & Honours: Indian national scholarship for Manipuri dance (Ras) (1994).