Artist Bio

Shalaka Kulkarni started in dance as a child in her native India, where she studied and continues studying Bharatnatyam and Kathak. Sandhya Desai for her Kathak expertise, Pranita Nayar for her Bharatnatyam and Nana Shineflug for her Modern dance aesthetics have been the most influential mentors and teachers in her artistic dance life. She holds an MFA in Arts and Media and a BA in Performing Art Management, minoring in Theatre, from Columbia College Chicago. She deepened her knowledge of anatomy and movement with a RYT-200 Yoga instructor certification. Her movement journey started as a child in India with dance and martial art. She is interested in creating and presenting a hybrid movement form that fuses techniques of Bharatnatyam and Kathak with other movement influences, text and technology. Her choreography includes traditional technique of Indian Classical dance forms while delivering a contemporary narrative or an idea that is based within current happenings in the society using movement derived from Indian Classical dance to build a unique movement vocabulary for that particular piece. 

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Her work revolves around the ideas of female identity, questioning societal norms, celebrating gender fluidity, empowering marginal voices and narrating lost stories of female contribution within Indian culture.

She has performed in India and in US. She has danced, taught and toured in and around her current home city of Chicago. She has toured and choreographed for Kalapriya Dance company in IL, toured with Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble, she has studied under Guillermo Gomez-Pena in a Performance Residency with La Pocha Nostra Collective, was one of the winning choreographers for Dance Chicago Festival 2005, was commissioned to create work for DanceBridge residency with Chicago Cultural Center, won two grants through Columbia College Chicago, was commissioned to create work for Lions Club, presented her work at Chicago Dramatist, commissioned to present work for Federation of Indian Associations in Chicago and performed and choreographed for Mandala Arts. She founded a collective called ‘SurTaal’ (inactive currently) for exploring Indian Classical dance forms through perspective of other dance forms. She was invited to present her work and ideas about hybridity of Indian Classical dance forms at IUGTE conference in Austria in 2021. She performed with International Art Adventures in Germany the same year. Most recently, she completed a SloMoCo (MoCo- Movement and computing community) Summer and Fall 2021 Residencies. She is a current artist in residence with Mandala South Asian Performing Arts with support from Illinois Arts Council, 2022 artist in residence with High Concept Labs, a guest choreographer for Momenta Dance Company and See Chicago Dance Resident creating work through their Dance for camera program. She is also a creator and producer for Dancing Chakras shows that presents Indian arts interpreting 7 Chakras of Yoga. 

She has been a teaching artist and created classes for children and adults based in Indian Classical dance, dance & media and storytelling through after school programs, dance studios, and for various undergraduate classes.  

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The prime focus of every work is to create a space for the audience to feel hope or release of negative energy so that they can take what they see through the work whether created as a serious work or work filled with absurd hilarity that can give them a thread to create a ripple of positivity for others. 

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Contact shakulkarni@gmail.com to invite her for facilitating workshops or presenting work listed below.

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Represented  by Chicago Talent Network and DeSanti Talent for acting and voiceover