Pali Chandra, (born 19 November 1967) is a

Kathak ''Kathak'' is one of the eight major forms of Classical Indian dance, Indian classical dance. Its origin is attributed to the traveling bards in ancient northern India known as ''Kathakar'' ("storyteller"), who communicated stories from the ...

Exponent, Choreographer, Digital Dance Educator, Mentor and artistic director. Intensively trained in the field of

, she now propagates Dance Education through various channels. She has established several studios specialising in

Training Programs in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. She has directed 14 Art Festivals in various continents. She is the co-founder for the portal learnkathakonline and Course Director of Kathak for natyasutraonline with Invis Multimedia. Pali is a committee member of the

Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) is an international dance teaching and examination board based in London, England. The registered educational charity, which was established on 25 July 1904 as the ''Imperial Society of Dance T ...

, and a graded member of the

Indian Council for Cultural Relations The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) is an autonomous organisation of the Government of India, involved in India's global cultural relations, through cultural exchange with other countries and their people. It was founded on 9 April ...

Early life

Born and raised in

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

, the capital of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

. * Father: Dwarka Nath Srivastava - A retired senior officer of Reserve Bank Of India and NABARD. Based in Lucknow for most part of his life. * Mother: Usha Srivasatava - an accomplished singer of Hindutani Classical Music from Faizabad. * Sibling: Somna Tugnai

Personal life

Pali is married to Vishal Chandra and has twin sons. They live together in

Schinznach Bad Schinznach-Bad is a former municipality in the district of Brugg in canton of Aargau in Switzerland. On 1 January 2020 the municipality of Schinznach-Bad merged into Brugg. Geography Schinznach-Bad has an area, , of . Of this area, or 5.3% ...

Aargau Aargau ( ; ), more formally the Canton of Aargau (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capital is Aarau. Aargau is one of the most nort ...

Education

* Master's degree in Anthropology - Gold Medalist from

Lucknow University University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is one of the oldest public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. LU's main campus is located at Badshah Bagh, University Road area of the city with a second ...

in 1991 for her research on tribal music and dance of

Gaddis The Gaddi is a semi-pastoral community living mainly in the high remote areas of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir in India. Population According to the 2011 Census of India, the Gaddi population was 178,130 in Himachal Pradesh and ...

tribe Pali Chandra,". * Bachelors of Arts Economics and Anthropology from Avadh Girls' Degree College, Lucknow * Did her schooling at Loreto Convent, Lucknow

Dance Training

Pali Chandra started dancing at the age of six. Trained under her

guru Guru ( ; International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''guru'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian religions, Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: tr ...

Vikram Singhe

Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in English language, English) is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India. It is an autonomous body of the Ministry of Culture (India) ...

, and Kapila Raj as well as Ram Mohan Mishra for 13 years at Kathak Kendra Lucknow.

Career

] She is a senior member of the

, U.K. and a graded member of the

. She has designed and executed workshops for institutes such as Oxford University, Birmingham University and University of Bradford, Bradford University. Pali Chandra’s Kathak dance portal learnkathakonline has 300,000 subscriptions in the last 4 years. The first of 4 Gurukul Studios was founded in 2008 in Dubai where Pali Chandra is a guru, mentor and guide to 550 students learning and performing Kathak whilst following the ISTD - UK (Imperial Society for Teachers of Dancing -

) syllabus. Besides providing dance training, she is the Founder and artistic director of Swiss International Kathak Festival (2019), 11 Dance Festivals called Dancing Divas (2009-2019) and several production in UK, UAE and India. Under the banner of Pali Peacocks, UK, Pali has been honored at the House of Commons in London as the Best Art Director for her production ‘In the Shadow of the Hills´. The Arts Council of England and London Arts Board, amongst other Institutions & Organizations, have frequently funded her projects.

Social Activist

Pali Chandra is known for her contribution to the society and environment and has taken several charity initiatives since 1995. From awareness programs on people with special needs to the homeless of Harrow in UK. From giving company to the lonely in old age homes of Belmont Elderly Centre to dancing with the physically challenged of Aspire, Stanmore. She has organised fundraisers in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

and

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

. Pali has led several projects to help raise awareness towards the environment like Ganges to Thames and Continental Shift and is now working towards a series of production aimed at empowering women. In Dubai, she has worked closely with the management of SNF (Special Needs Foundation) and Al Noor to raise awareness and funds.

Productions and Choreographies

* ''Continental Shift'' London, England (1994) * ''Ganges to Thames'' London, England (1996) * ''In the Shadow of the Hills'' London, England (1999) * ''Kamoshi ki Avaaz'' London, England (2001) * ''She'' UK Tour (2002) * ''Gazal in Restropect'' London, England (2003) * ''Rhythm Shift'' London, England (2004) * ''Five Elements'' Dubai, UAE (2010) * ''Sufi Noor'' Dubai, UAE (2012) * ''Across'' Dubai, UAE * '' Essence of Life'', India (2013) * ''Naach - Hundred years of Bollywood'' Dubai, UAE (2014) * ''Zinda'' Dubai, UAE * ''Navinayika'' Dubai, UAE (2015) * '' Taal Mala'' Dubai, UAE (2016) * ''Noor ki Baarish'' Dubai, UAE (2016) * '' Soney ki Chidya'' Lebanon (2017) * ''Aamad'' Bangalore, India (2017),

Nehru Centre Nehru Centre is a centre to promote the teachings and ideals of the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, through educational and cultural programmes in the city of Mumbai, India. The Centre organises scientific, cultural and educat ...

London, England (2018) * ''Lasya'' Dubai, UAE (2018) * ''Kahani'' Dubai, UAE (2019) * ''Play with a Cause - Parkinson'' Dubai, UAE (2019) * ''Thaat'' Bangalore, India (2019) * ''Tihai'' Bangalore, India (2020) * ''Shyam Piya'' Zurich, Switzerland (2019) * ''Repertoire'' London, England (2018) & Aargau, Switzerland (2019) * ''Dance to Empower'' Switzerland (work in progress)

Awards

References

External links

palichandra.org
Official Website
palichandra.org/gurukul
Official Gurukul Studios Website
learnkathakonline.com/
Online Kathak Learning Platform (co-founder) {{DEFAULTSORT:Chandra, Pali 1967 births Living people Indian female classical dancers Kathak exponents Indian classical choreographers Indian women choreographers Artists from Lucknow Dancers from Uttar Pradesh Women artists from Uttar Pradesh 20th-century Indian women artists