Sunday 29 November 2026 Oxford Asian Cultural Centre

Talk: Indian Dance Traditions in Relation to Power

Dr Ranjini Nair is a researcher, writer, and dancer whose work explores the intersections of dance, cultural politics and social history. She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, where her research examined the socio-religious hierarchies of Indian classical dance. Trained in Kuchipudi for over two decades, she brings together academic scholarship and embodied artistic practice to investigate how performance traditions are shaped by power. Her work has been published in academic journals and popular media outlets, including the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Frontline and Indian Express. Alongside her scholarly and artistic work, Ranjini contributes to public engagement and cultural interpretation at Wellcome Collection in London, connecting audiences with questions around cultural histories of health.