Usha Balasundaram

🪔 About

Usha Balasundaram is a professional Bharatanatyam dancer, choreographer, and teacher with a lifelong passion for dance and music. She completed a rigorous four-year degree program in Bharatanatyam at the world-renowned Kalakshetra in Chennai, India. Following her graduation, she delved into contemporary dance rooted in Bharatanatyam, spending four years with Miss. Chandralekha Prabhudas Patel's acclaimed dance group, which provided her with a global platform to explore modern dance and the interplay between classical and contemporary styles. Her expertise was further enriched through international collaborations with Pina Bausch, a celebrated German modern dance choreographer and ballet director. In 1997, Usha Balasundaram moved to Sweden after marriage, and in 2002, she founded the Saraswathy Kalakendra Institution of Fine Arts in Stockholm. The institution is dedicated to teaching Indian classical dance, specifically Bharatanatyam, to children, teenagers, and adults across all skill levels. She has been continuously training Indian and international students in Bharatanatyam for nearly fifteen years and teaches Bharatanatyam to approximately two hundred children weekly in Kulturskolan Stockholm and Kulturskolan Botkyrka. Her school, Saraswathy Kalakendra, currently serves nearly 400 students aged 4 to 60. Balasundaram also leads a professional team for choreographing and performing various projects, including notable works like 'Kali,' 'Meghadootam,' and 'Karleks Saga – Satyavan och Savithri.' Awards & Honours: Trolldiplomet (2017), Award from Huddinge kommun, Stockholm Konstnärsnämden Stipendium.