Justin Mcarthy

🪔 About

Justin McCarthy, born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1957, is an American-born Indian Bharatanatyam dancer, instructor, and choreographer. He received early dance training at the Berkeley School of Dance in San Francisco and also learned piano from a young age. His fascination with Indian classical dance began in the mid-1970s after witnessing a Bharatanatyam performance at Golden Gate Park. This experience led him to study Bharatanatyam under American dancers Lesandre Ayrey and Mimi Janislauuski, students of Balasaraswati. In 1979, McCarthy moved to India to further his training. He initially studied the Pandanallur style of Bharatanatyam under Guru Subbaraya Pillai in Chennai. Subsequently, he trained for ten years under danseuse Leela Samson at the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra in Delhi. During this period, he also delved into Carnatic music, Tamil, and Sanskrit languages. He performed his arangetram in New Delhi in 1984. McCarthy became an Indian citizen in 1997. He has been a prominent teacher of Bharatanatyam at the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra in Delhi since 1990, where he has trained numerous dancers. Beyond performing as a soloist, he is a prolific choreographer, with his first work, "Maduraikanchi," premiering in 1993. Other notable choreographies include "Abhigyanashakuntalam" (1997), "Of Longing, Matter and Divinity" (2005), "Rajavilasam" (2009), "Lokaalokam" (2010), and "Naukacharitramu" (2013). His 2009 production, "Rajavilasam," and 2010 production, "Lokaalokam," a fusion of Chhau, Kathak, and Bharatanatyam, received critical acclaim. In addition to his dance career, McCarthy is a skilled musician, playing piano and harpsichord, and has given solo recitals and accompanied other musicians. Since 2014, he has served as the Director of Performing Arts at Ashoka University. In 2012, he co-directed a national award-winning film on South Indian courtesans with Sandhya Kumar. For his significant contributions to Bharatanatyam, he received the Nartaka award for lifetime achievement from Natyanjali Trust, Chennai, in 2017. Awards & Honours: Nartaka award for life-time achievement in Bharatanatyam (2017), National Award (for film on South Indian courtesans) (2012).