Sukanya Rahman

🪔 About

Sukanya Rahman, born in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1946, is a distinguished classical Indian dancer, visual artist, and writer. She is the daughter of renowned classical Indian dancer Indrani Rahman and architect Habib Rahman, and the granddaughter of Indian dance pioneer Ragini Devi. Her brother is the contemporary Indian photographer and curator Ram Rahman. Rahman's dance training began at an early age under her mother, Indrani Rahman. She also received a scholarship to study American modern dance with Martha Graham in New York. Her Indian classical dance gurus include eminent figures such as Pandanallur Chokalingam Pillai, Tanjore Kittappa Pillai, Deba Prasad Das, and Raja Reddy. She is proficient in Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, and Odissi, and has toured internationally, performing solo and in joint concerts with her mother. Her performances have graced prestigious venues such as the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, the Lincoln Center, the Asia Society, and the Edinburgh Festival. She also toured a program titled "Feminine Images in the Myth, Art and Dance of India: 4,000 Years of Hindu Expression of the Woman" under a grant from the Maine Humanities Council. Rahman has contributed to the arts community by serving on the NEA Dance Panel, the Pew Charitable Trust National Council to Preserve American Dance, and as a Site Visit Consultant for the NEA. She has also conducted dance workshops at institutions like Barnard, The Juilliard School, Sarah Lawrence, Bates, and Bowdoin colleges. In addition to her dance career, Sukanya Rahman is an accomplished visual artist. She studied painting at the College of Art in New Delhi and, in 1965, received a French Government scholarship to attend the École Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris. Her painting and collage works have been widely exhibited in India and internationally, including at the William Benton Museum of Art in Storr's CT, The Arts Complex Museum in Duxbury, MA, and The Fowler Museum in Los Angeles. Her work is also part of the permanent collection of The William Benton Museum. Her mixed media constructions and digital works draw inspiration from diverse sources such as Indian street art, calendar art, oriental prints, calligraphy, and the vibrant culture of Mexico. As a writer, Rahman is the author of the acclaimed memoir "Dancing in the Family," which chronicles the lives of three generations of women in her family, deeply intertwined with the history of Indian dance. The book, first published around 2001 and launched by Pandit Ravi Shankar, has been lauded as "a gem in the history of Indian dance." Sukanya Rahman is married to theatre director, producer, and playwright Frank Wicks, and they have two sons, Habib Wicks and Wardreath Wicks, and two grandchildren. She divides her time between an island in Maine, USA, and Merida, Mexico. Awards & Honours: Dance Fellowships.