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Uttara Asha Coorlawala
Uttara Asha Coorlawala currently teaches dance courses at Barnard College/Columbia University, and formerly at the Alvin Ailey American Dance School Professional Program. Earlier as a dancer, her solo show brought modern dance, Bharatanatyam and yoga to stages of India, Europe, East Europe, Japan and the United States as she uniquely served both the United States (USIS/NEA) and India (ICCR) as a cultural representative. She served as a Performing Arts advisor to the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the National Centre of Performing Arts, Mumbai, and currently curates the Erasing Borders Dance Festival in New York City. Uttara has also served on various global dance research (CORD) and educational (International Baccalaureate or IB) committees. Awards received include the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 2010 (India) for pioneering choreography; AHRB Fellowship for South Asian Dance Research, London (UK); The Graduate Research Award from CORD (USA); the Homi Bhabha Fellowship, (India); and a Ford Foundation Research Project (USA) on changing demographies of cultures in the United States. Her articles have been published in Discourses in Dance, Dance Research Journal, Sruti, Marg, and anthologies on performance and choreography.