Ms. Sampreeti Malladi, research scholar at the Department of Dance, S. N School of Arts & Communication, University of Hyderabad (UoH) has been selected for the Fulbright Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowship for the year 2019-2020 and has been placed at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. She is currently working under Prof. Anuradha Jonnalagadda on the ‘Role of Space in Indian Dance Traditions’.
Biography
Ms. Sampreeti Malladi, a Master of Arts graduate in Kuchipudi from the University of Hyderabad, is a dancer and an architect by profession. She was awarded the prestigious Nataraja Ramakrishna Gold Medal for academic excellence in her MA program, in addition to graduating at the top of her class for academic years 2012–14.
Currently Ms. Malladi has a Junior Research Fellowship (JRF), awarded by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, to pursue doctoral research at the University of Hyderabad. She has been invited to present her research at both national and international conferences. She is also a recipient of a JRF awarded by the Ministry of Culture for her research project “Desi Dance Traditions and the Iconography of the Yogini Cult.”
Ms. Malladi’s doctoral research investigates how Indian dance traditions interact with and are influenced by space. Specifically, she examines the role of changing spatial configurations in performance areas, changes in visual perspectives, and their impact on Indian dance traditions. Ms. Malladi strikes a delicate balance between her doctoral research, the demands of her profession as an architect, and her passion for performing arts.
As a Fulbright-Nehru fellow, Ms. Malladi is studying the interaction of contemporary dance artists with space and technology and gaining practical experience in projects exploring the convergence of architecture and dance in built forms. Through this exposure, she intends to complete her doctoral research and create an awareness of the role of space in performance.