Three by Three: Guest Artists in Focus

QUESTION 2.  When choreographing for film versus live stage performance, what changes in the way you design movement, emotion, and visual storytelling?

• ANSWER 2.     Choreographing for film and for the stage requires two very different approaches to movement, emotion, and storytelling. On stage, there are no retakes, so every moment must be designed with precision. Stagecraft, lighting, formations, script, and music all need to work together seamlessly from beginning to end. While creating for the stage, I constantly think about how the audience will experience the performance from a distance — the energy must carry across the entire space.

  
  For film, the process shifts completely. The camera becomes an active partner in the choreography. Movements and expressions need to be more intimate and subtle, because even the smallest gesture is magnified on screen. Camera angles, location, framing, and visual composition shape the storytelling as much as the choreography itself. In film, elements like colour correction and editing can transform the emotional tone, allowing for a different kind of depth and visual poetry.

Sudeshna Dey
Dancer and Choreographer

BIO:    Sudeshna Dey is a Kolkata (India) based dancer, choreographer, dance educator, writer, actor and short filmmaker whose work engages with identity, gender and culture.

A recipient of the Uday Shankar Award, she trained at The Place, London; choreographed Tasher Desh in Birmingham (UK) for Arts Bengal; and performed in Leap with Austria’s CieLaroque. Her work was selected for Mark DeGarmo Dance’s Global Dance Circle, leading to an invitation to its 16th Anniversary Virtual Salon Performance Series for Social Change 2026 (New York, USA).

Her acclaimed piece Brihannala gained 9 lakh (900k) Facebook views, featured in a British Council–supported webinar and was showcased at the Sierra Madre International Artist Residency (Mexico).

She has twice performed for EZCC and was honoured among 108 women at New Town Durgotsab 2024’s “Asadharani.” Her award-winning short films have screened across digital and independent platforms and she writes for multiple online/offline publications.

LINKTREE:     Sudeshna2112

QUESTION 3.   Several of your films address social themes such as gender and identity—what inspires you to explore these topics through dance and filmmaking?

• ANSWER 3.     Many of my works explore social themes such as gender, identity, widowhood, or caste because these issues are deeply rooted in the society I grew up in. My personal experiences have also shaped this artistic direction. My father passed away when my mother was very young, and I witnessed her struggle within a conservative society that often restricts how a widow can rebuild her life. That pain compelled me to create a dance piece about a widow preparing to remarry—an act of courage that challenges social norms.

  
  Brihannala came to me through an online platform, and it offered a rare opportunity to portray the emotional world of a transgender person. In mainstream Indian cinema and theatre, such roles are almost always played by men, and their stories remain misunderstood or misrepresented. Through this work, I wanted to express their struggles, their yearning for dignity, and their plea for acceptance.

  
  I am inspired by what I observe around me—books I read, people I meet, moments that leave an impression. I feel drawn to stories that remain untold, and dance and film allow me to give those voices a space to exist, feel, and be understood.

QUESTION 1.    Having trained at the Ananda Shankar Centre and worked with the Tanushree Shankar Dance Company, how has this lineage shaped your own artistic identity as a dancer and choreographer?

• ANSWER 1.   Training at the Ananda Shankar Centre and working with the Tanushree Shankar Dance Company deeply shaped my artistic identity. The Uday Shankar style places improvisation at its core, and discovering this approach transformed the way I understood dance. It taught me that any dancer can become a storyteller — that movement can express everything from mythology to contemporary realities.
  
  

  Through this training, I also learned the foundations of choreography: how to build a narrative, how to shape emotions through movement, and how to trust my creative instincts. Together, these experiences expanded my imagination, strengthened my artistic voice, and continue to influence the way I create and perform my work today.

Durga Stotra: Dance cover showcasing the divine invocation of Goddess Durga.

Jagyaseni: Dance cover showcasing Draupadi's outburst after her humiliation in the Indian epic Mahabharat.

Kantara: Dance cover based on Uday Shankar Dance style in its truest form.

All copyright and reproduction rights are reserved by Sudeshna Dey.
Artwork may not be reproduced in any form without the artist's express written permission.