Dr. Kaustavi Sarkar is a professional Odissi soloist, performing and touring the eastern Indian traditional art form for the past two decades. She is an Associate Professor of Dance in the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s Department of Dance and the Regional Director for Mid Atlantic: American College Dance Association. She founded the journal South Asian Dance Intersections as well as the Odissi Odyssey conference held annually at UNC Charlotte as well as Sister Nivedita University, Kolkata. Her K-12 project combining dance, music, and drama has been recognized by National Dance Education Organization as well as National Association for Music Education, providing much needed credit, recognition, and appreciation for South Asian arts in mainstream arts education contexts in the United States.
Sarkar investigates virtuosity in dance-theater as fostered in traditional Indian aesthetics through her research on choreography and creative processes. She has commissioned works from female choreographers Dr. Ananya Chatterjea, Rohini Dandavate, Aruna Mohanty, and Maya Kulkarni to research and write about the creative process in South Asian aesthetics. Her research institute, “Dance and Community,” brings artists, educators, and scholars together towards systemic change and has been recognized by ACDA as an integrative medium for diasporic artists.
She holds advanced academic credentials in dance and performance studies and has been formally trained in multiple movement systems, integrating classical Indian dance vocabularies with contemporary analytical frameworks. Her interdisciplinary training includes study in anatomy, kinesiology, and somatic awareness, which informs her pedagogy and research on the dancing body. This strong foundation enables her to approach performance not only as an expressive art form but also as a site of critical investigation, cultural transmission, and embodied philosophy.
Sarkar holds a Ph.D. in Dance Studies (focus on Digital Humanities) from The Ohio State University (2017). She also holds an M.S. in Economics with Minor in Finance from Texas A&M University (2006).