Sinjini Chatterjee holds a PhD in Critical Dance Studies from the University of California, Riverside. Her research traces interdependence between Odissi dance (A South Asian ‘classical’ dance style) and other non-classical folk, tribal, and ritualist performance practices of Odisha. Chatterjee has trained for 15 years in Odissi dance under the guidance of Smt. Aloka Kanungo, and has performed widely in India and the United Kingdom. 

Chatterjee’s research lies at the intersection of caste, class, gender, and performance politics in South Asia. In the past decade there has been significant scholarly work on Indian ‘classical’ dance that illustrates these forms’ relationship to the Indian state. However, there exists a lacuna in critiquing the category of ‘classical’ and on examining interconnections between classical and indigenous dance forms. Her research investigates inequalities, hierarchies, and epistemic violence in Indian dance practices, focusing on the vexed category of ‘classical’ which was formed at the nexus of Indian nationalism, colonial modernity, economic inequality, and caste-based violence. Indian Classical Dance exploits the marginalized folk and ritual dancer’s body in order to generate economic and cultural capital. Following this, Chatterjee’s ethnography and archival analysis based project studies contemporary choreographies of Odissi (a South-Asian ‘classical’ dance) choreographers who incorporate these marginalized dance-forms into their choreographies. Alongside, it traces the history of the marginalized performance practices of Odisha (a state in Eastern India) through oral narratives and movement repertoire of the underrepresented artist communities. In studying the history of the marginalized performances and the contemporary ‘classical dance’ choreographies which incorporate these performances, her research reveals previously overlooked performance histories, highlights the contribution of caste-class oppressed artists in forming the cultural heritage of India, and strives to develop a theoretical framework of decoloniality with regards to Indian performance practices.