Harikrishnan B

🪔 About

Hari Krishnan is a distinguished dancer, choreographer, scholar, and professor specializing in Bharatanatyam, post-colonial, and queer dance studies. Born in Singapore to Indian parents, Krishnan received his foundational training in South India from hereditary courtesan teachers, who were the original custodians of Bharatanatyam. His gurus included the late K.P. Kittappa Pillai and R. Muttukkannammal. He furthered his traditional Thanjavur court repertoire training with Gopalakrishnan Pillai and K. Chandrasekaran, and also received specialized training in temple-dance repertoire from P.R. Thilagam. Notably, Krishnan is recognized as the only dancer to have inherited the entire repertoire of the Viralimalai temple tradition from R. Muttukkannammal. In 1991, Krishnan relocated to Canada, where he established the Tanjavur Dance Centre in Toronto in 1997. He subsequently founded his contemporary dance company, inDANCE, in 1999, and serves as its artistic director. His academic background includes a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Winnipeg, a Master of Fine Arts from York University, and a PhD in Dance from Texas Woman's University. He is currently a Professor of Dance and Chair of the Department of Dance and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, USA. Krishnan's choreographic work is renowned for exploring post-colonial complexities, queer themes, and the intersection of traditional South Asian and global contemporary dance forms. His extensive body of work critically engages with Bharatanatyam, fusing it with contemporary global dance styles and postmodern social critique to challenge stereotypes and reclaim narratives of sexuality, religion, and culture. His scholarly contributions are equally significant, covering topics from queer dance and global cultural politics to the history of devadasi-courtesan dance and representations of Bharatanatyam on film. In 2019, his book, "Celluloid Classicism: Early Tamil Cinema and the Making of Modern Bharatanatyam," was published by Wesleyan University Press, earning a special citation from the 2020 de la Torre Bueno© First Book Award Committee of the Dance Studies Association. Awards & Honours: Special citation from the de la Torre Bueno© First Book Award Committee of the Dance Studies Association (for "Celluloid Classicism") (2020), Bessie Award nominee, Dora Award nominee.