Expert in classical Indian dance to give lecture and performance March 1

Padmaja Suresh, a renowned expert in classical Indian dance, will visit Western Washington University on Tuesday, March 1, to give a lecture-performance on the intersections of dance and the religious philosophy known as Tantra. The event, which is free and open to the public, is scheduled for 4 p.m. in the Old Main Theater.

Suresh’s lecture will explore the philosophical underpinnings of Tantra, a religious tradition that influenced all Indian religions and spread throughout Southeast Asia and as far as Japan in pre-modern times. She will particularly examine the mystical experience of unity with God that Tantric diagrams and rituals sought to engender, and how such states of consciousness can be accessed and shared via the expressive tradition of classical Indian dance.

Suresh received her doctorate at Mysore University in 2011 and has had an illustrious 25-year career as a teacher, performer, and choreographer of Bharat natyam (classical Indian dance). She has performed and taught all over India, including for governmental dignitaries, and has taught internationally in New Zealand, Australia, Cyprus, Latvia and the United States.

The event is sponsored by WWU's Department of Liberal Studies, with support from the Anthropology Department, the Center for International Studies and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

For more information, contact Stephanie Wanne at Western’s Department of Liberal Studies at 360-650-3031 or stephanie.wanne@wwu.edu.