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New
South Asian Faculty Chairman
Chitraleka
Bolar
Chitraleka
is one of the leading exponents of Bharatanatyam and is the Artistic
Director of Chitraleka Dance Company. She has worked extensively in
Britain and abroad as a performer, teacher and choreographer and workshop
leader across education, community and theatre contexts.
Chitraleka
Dance Company was formed by Chitraleka in 1990, and became established
as one of the foremost Bharatanatyam ensembles to create and tour major
dance productions.
More
recently, Chitraleka has focussed her work on the professional development
of young dancers, education and outreach work and training. This change
in emphasis is reflected in the company's current work as a dance-in-education
company. This work, based predominantly in the West Midlands, is responsible
for creating performance, developing the art form and its practitioners,
and sharing and enhancing the experience of Indian dance in a wide range
of educational settings. Chitraleka's work with the company is funded
by West Midlands Arts and Birmingham City Council.
In
1998, Chitraleka undertook a unique initiative that focused on the training
of young dancers, with the start of a Youth Dance Company. Through the
youth programme the company has made a significant contribution to the
region's artistic and cultural scene, regularly presenting classical
and dance-drama productions to the community through festival events
and engaged in cross-organisational collaborative projects.
Chitraleka's
work is supported by the University of Birmingham, School of Education
where her company is based as 'Artist in Residence'.
Chitraleka
has been a member of the Faculty for one year and is an examiner for
the Imperial Society.
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