Giridhar Raghunathan

Biography:

I am a doctoral student in Dance Studies. I am a  bharatanatyam (Indian dance) performer, teacher and choreographer with 26 years of dance training and a master's degree (distinction). I speak English (first language), Tamil and Kannada (native proficiency) and French (full working proficiency).  

PhD project overview:

As a 21^st century global dance, bharatanatyam posits its observation through the queer lens. Whilst emerging South Asian gender, sex and queer theories extensively analyse Indian film, television and literature, these theories do not actively engage with accounts based on Indian classical dance. My PhD attempts to address this paucity of information by elucidating how queer sexualities and desire are constructed and negotiated in the predominantly heteronormative bharatanatyam milieu at home (India) and abroad (UK).

Research interests:

Gender and sexuality, dance, queerness, South Asia, decolonialisation