SHAMITA RAY

                              

Shamita Ray is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher. Based in London and Glasgow, she has been working for the last fifteen years, specializing in contemporary dance and bharatanatyam.

Shamita was born in Scotland. She trained in ballet, contemporary dance, and jazz at the Urdang Academy of Ballet and Performing Arts, London; and has a first-class diploma in bharatanatyam from the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (Institute of Indian Culture), also in London. She has performed with dance companies all over the world, working with some of the world's top choreographers. Some of the companies in the UK she has performed with include Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company, Tabula Rasa Dance Company, Company Chordelia, Sankalpam, The Dance Movement, Salamanda Tandem, and Opera Holland Park. She has also worked with independent choreographers such as Subathra Subramaniam and Annie pui ling Lok. Internationally, she has worked with Wilhelm Groener and Tanzlandschaft Ruhr (both in Germany), Sinha Danse (Canada), and Axel Danses (Belgium). She most recently performed with Srishti Nina Rajarani Dance Creations on tour throughout the UK.

Shamita recently launched her choreography career with the solos Dark Matter and Ring Cycle, which are currently touring in the UK and Europe. Her work features a highly personal movement vocabulary, based on a hybridized blend of bharatanatyam and contemporary dance. She has also been an assistant choreographer for the Tatarstan State Opera (Russia) for Les Pecheurs de Perles.

Shamita teaches regularly, including workshops for children in nursery, primary, secondary, and special schools throughout the UK. She has also taught courses for adults, including at Laban Centre, London; and regularly guest teaches in Germany, including at Tanzfabrik, Berlin; Mind the Gap Tanztheater; and Tanzfestival Bielefeld.