BIO:

Ahalya Satkunaratnam is a dance scholar and dancer who is a professor in Arts and Humanities at Quest University Canada in Squamish BC. Her broader teaching and research interests are in the relationships between arts, embodied practices, and local and global politics. Ahalya’s first book Moving Bodies, Navigating Conflict: Practicing Bharata Natyam in Colombo, Sri Lanka, is now available from Wesleyan University Press (Spring 2020). She earned her BA in Political Science at Loyola University Chicago and her PhD in Critical Dance Studies at the University of California, Riverside. 

Satkunaratnam’s choreography draws on array of movements and compositional styles, including her primary training in Bharata Natyam. Over the past 10 years, she has created a series of works on the Global War on Terror as it transforms and transports itself over time. She has curated and produced several community-based arts events. Her dance work has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and the Illinois Council for the Arts. 

Descriptions ~ definitions, demonstrations and dances:

Bharatanatyam is a major form of Indian classical dance that is indigenous to Tamil Nadu. Bharata Natyam is the oldest classical dance tradition in India. It was nurtured in the temples and courts of southern India since ancient times. It is one of eight forms of dance recognized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi (the others being Kathak, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Kathakali, Mohiniyattam, Manipuri and Sattriya) and it expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism. **definition from wikipedia

Bhaṅgṛā (Punjabi: بھنگڑا / ਭੰਗੜਾ ) is a type of traditional dance of the Indian subcontinent, originating in the Majha area of Punjab.  The dance was associated primarily with the spring harvest festival Vaisakhi. **definition from wikipedia

Kathak (Hindi: कथक, Urdu: کتھک‎) is one of the seven major forms of Indian classical dance. The origin of Kathak is traditionally attributed to the traveling bards of ancient northern India known as Kathakars or storytellers. The term Kathak is derived from the Vedic Sanskrit word Katha which means "story", and Kathakar which means "the one who tells a story", or "to do with stories". **definition from wikipedia