SHRUTI MARIA DATAR
Shruti Maria Datar is a Mumbai-based Indian performance artist and arts researcher working at the intersection of performance-making and artistic research. With training in both classical and contemporary dance, her practice explores embodied memory, identity, cultural narratives, and socio-social constructs through movement. Her work approaches the body as both a site and archive of lived experience, creating performances that invite reflection, dialogue, and collective engagement.
She completed her professional training in contemporary dance at Danscentrumjette, Belgium, and holds a Diploma in Movement Arts from Centre for Movement Arts, Bangalore. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Media from St. Xavier’s College in 2011.
Shruti is one of only two recipients of the Global South Scholarship 2026 to pursue an MA in Dance: Participation, Communities and Activism at London Contemporary Dance School, validated by The University of the Arts London. She has also been invited as the sole choreographer from India to participate in the International Young Choreographer’s Platform 2026 by the World Dance Alliance in Taiwan.
She is the recipient of the Arts Research Grant from India Foundation for the Arts for her artistic and archival project on Mumbai’s East Indian community. Her recognitions also include the Kolkata Centre for Creativity Arts Fellowship (2023–24) and the G5A Foundation for Contemporary Culture Performance Grant (Season 24/25) for her choreographic work C.Tactile. Her earlier work-in-progress Phi was showcased at the Prakriti Excellence in Contemporary Dance Awards.
In 2022, she founded The Movement Arts Co, an initiative focused on expanding the artistic, educational, and social impact of dance.
Through her interdisciplinary practice, Shruti explores themes of belonging, heritage, gender, memory, and self-discovery. Her work bridges the personal and the collective, creating immersive experiences that encourage audiences to reflect on identity, culture, and the shared human experience.
Shruti is committed to creating work that not only adds to the artistic discourse in the Contemporary dance landscape in South Asia but also contributes to meaningful dialogue, social change and raises pertinent contemporary issues within the community.