WORLD LIT: GITANJALI KOLANAD

Occupying the almost 200-year-old building that was Singapore's first Parliament House, The Arts House since its opening in 2004 has been playing an active role in the Singapore arts and creative scene. As a centre for writing, writers and ideas, The Arts House supports and presents programmes and festivals that aim to develop and promote literary arts in Singapore.

The Arts House

This special edition of World Lit features the 2016 Singapore Creative Writing Resident, Gitanjali Kolanad. Gitanjali turned to writing after more than forty years as a bharata natyam dancer, teacher and choreographer. Her first short story collection, Sleeping with Movie Stars, was written using words as if they were gestures in a dance. It is an intelligent and sensual read about a young woman’s coming of age loosely inspired by her own experience of being sent to Madras in the 1970s where she studied bharata natyam. Gitanjali will read from her published works and give us a taste of her first novel which explores the world of hereditary dancers in the 1920s, just as a new morality was bringing their lifestyle to an end. 
This session is moderated by poet Cyril Wong. 
The Singapore Creative Writing Residency is co-organised by The Arts House and the National University of Singapore.
About Gitanjali Kolanad Gitanjali Kolanad was involved in the practice, performance, and teaching of bharata natyam for more than forty years. She performed in major cities in Europe, America and India, including London, New York, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Toronto, Tokyo, New Delhi, Bombay, and Madras.   Her traditional performances were praised by critics, while her contemporary choreographic work won new audiences for bharata natyam.
Her  work was often multi-disciplinary, arising out of collaborations with artists from other disciplines: director Phillip Zarrilli, video/installation artist Ray Langenbach, poet Judith Kroll, violinist Parmela Attariwala, to name a few.  Her performances incorporated folk and ritual forms of dance, theatre and martial art forms from South India. She created eight major full-length dance works, many of which she performed all over the world.
Gitanjali's short story The American Girl won second prize in the 2008 CBC Literary Awards. The story is part of a collection published in 2011 by Penguin India and long-listed for the Frank O’Connor Short Story Award that year. Her previous book, Culture Shock: India, published by Marshall Cavendish, is now into its third edition, and has been translated into Korean. She has written numerous articles on aspects of Indian dance for well-known Indian publications, such as Open Magazine and Seminar. For two years, she contributed a column on arts and culture to the newspaper New Indian Express.
She co-founded IMPACT - Indian Martial and Performance Arts Collective of Toronto, which teaches the Indian martial art form of kalaripayat  to at-risk youth in underserved neighbourhoods.  Presently she is teaching courses in the Dept of Art, Design and Performing Arts while developing a fully-fledged performing arts program at Shiv Nadar University.

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