Padmini Chettur

🪔 About

Padmini Chettur is an acclaimed Indian contemporary dancer and choreographer, born in 1970. Her foundational training was in the Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam, which she began as a child and performed her arangetram at the age of twelve. She also holds a degree from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (BITS Pilani), graduating in 1991. Chettur's professional journey in contemporary dance began in 1990 when she joined the company of the radical Bharatanatyam modernist choreographer, Chandralekha. She performed in several of Chandralekha's significant works, including 'Lilavati,' 'Prana,' 'Angika,' 'Sri,' 'Bhinna Pravaha,' 'Yantra,' 'Mahakaal,' and 'Sharira,' until 2001. Breaking away from Chandralekha's company in 2001, Chettur forged her own distinctive choreographic idiom. Her work is characterized by a minimalist, abstract, and formal approach, focusing on anatomical investigation and prioritizing tension over overt emotion. She consciously decided against formal training abroad, rooting her highly abstract work in the cultural fabric of Chennai's dance community. Her choreographic process is described as almost scientific in its rigor, constantly refining form and exploring philosophical concepts of time and space. Based in Chennai, India, Padmini Chettur runs her own organization, the "Padmini Chettur Dance Company." She is also a co-founder of Basement 21, an artists' collective in Chennai established in 2011, which aims to support and encourage contemporary dance. Her notable works include 'Wings and Masks' (1999), 'Fragility' (2001), 'Paperdoll' (2005), 'Pushed' (2006), 'Beautiful Thing 1' (2009), 'Beautiful Thing 2' (2011), 'Wall Dancing' (2012), 'Kolam' (2014), and 'Varnam' (2016). Her choreography has been showcased internationally in various visual art spaces and festivals, including the Kochi-Muziris Biennale and Haus der Kulturen der Welt. Chettur's work often critically engages with traditional Bharatanatyam, questioning its construction of the female body and seeking to de-objectify it. She also lectures and teaches, with her pedagogy critiquing institutional and often Eurocentric thinking in contemporary dance.