The Art Historian
Exploring the Matrix of Indian Art
Gayathri Iyer is an art historian, dance historian and Bharatha Natyam dancer. Raised in New York, she wandered back to India a decade ago in search of Indian art. Since then she has studied a Masters in Arts and Aesthetics (that integrates Visual Studies, Theatre and Performance and Cinema), an M.Phil in Indian Art History and she is currently completing a PhD in Temple Sculpture at JNU. She is an India Foundation of the Arts grantee for her project on the dance history of Bangalore and she is consulting with INTACH on the inscription of the Hoysala heritage sites on the UNESCO World Heritage Site List.
The Dancer
Outside of her academic life, Gayathri is a trained Bharathanatyam dancer with a special interest in the “Abhinaya” tradition of the Kalanidhi Narayanan style. Training from the age of 4, she has researched compositions extensively and learnt the Natyashastra from several eminent Sanskrit scholars. Gayathri has trained in the Kalakshetra style, and has performed widely in the US- including the United Nations, Tsunami benefit concerts and other charity events. She is noted for her lecture demonstrations on dance and sculpture in India- one of the aspects of her thesis- and conducts workshops in the same.
