Jessica Fiala

🪔 About

Jessica Fiala is an accomplished Bharatanatyam dancer, teacher, researcher, and author, primarily associated with Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy's Ragamala Dance Company. She commenced her Bharatanatyam studies with Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy in 2006, having previously trained in rhythm tap and modern/postmodern dance. As a dancer with Ragamala, Fiala has toured extensively across the U.S., India, the U.K., and the United Arab Emirates, with notable performances at venues such as Lincoln Center Out of Doors, the Kennedy Center, Jacob's Pillow, and The Joyce Theater's American Dance Platform. Beyond her performance career, Jessica Fiala is a teacher at the Ragamala Training Center and has actively engaged in outreach activities across the U.S., catering to diverse audiences from K-12 students to senior citizens. She also conducted a workshop in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2013. Academically, Fiala holds an interdisciplinary master's degree from the University of Minnesota, specializing in Museum Studies & Cultural Studies. Her research interests encompass transcultural Bharatanatyam practice, postcolonial museum exhibitions, site-based dance, and political public art. She has presented her research at various international conferences and her writings have been featured in the anthology "The Ruined Archive" (2014) and journals such as "Diálogos com a arte" (2016, 2019) and the "Journal of Somaesthetics" (2020).