Dr. Smitha Radhakrishnan

Bharatanatyam in Contemporary Application
Black and white close-up headshot of Smitha Radhakrishnan smiling to the camera. She has chin-length hair.

Dr. Smitha Radhakrishnan is a lifelong diasporic Bharatanatyam dancer focused on how traditional vocabularies of expressive movement can connect with contemporary personal, social, and political struggles. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she has trained continuously with prominent Bharatanatyam teachers in the U.S. and India since age five. She also spent over a decade training in contemporary dance, theatre, and Indian martial arts while performing and touring with Navarasa Dance Theater (Boston and Los Angeles).

Dr. Radhakrishnan has performed in hundreds of solo and group productions in major venues across New England and in California. In South Africa, she performed and taught extensively with the Surialanga Dance Company of Durban, often in principal roles. In 2003, she co-founded the original NATyA Dance Company with fellow dancer Vallari Shah. They co-produced and performed over 80 shows all over the California Bay Area, including four original productions.

Currently, Dr. Radhakrishnan directs NATyA Dance Collective, an ensemble of rigorously trained Bharatanatyam dancers creating work that defies the boundaries between classical and contemporary dance. The Collective has produced three original evening-length productions at The Dance Complex, all of which have been supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Most recently, the Collective presented Radical Love: A Collective Movement (2024). NATyA Dance also offers classes for adults and children in Natick, MA.

Dr. Radhakrishnan is the Marion Butler McLean Professor in the History of Ideas and Professor of Sociology at Wellesley College. An award-winning feminist sociologist focused on questions of gender and economic change, she is a vocal advocate for transformative racial and gender justice. Dr. Radhakrishnan serves on the boards of Navarasa Dance Theater and the Boston Dance Alliance.

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