Organizer: Asia Society
Type/Location: In Person / New York, NY
Description:
India and Cambodia: Embodying Identities in the Dance
Acclaimed Odissi dancer Bijayini Satpathy explores gender as rooted in the vocabulary of Odissi, a dance form shaped by both feminine histories and male lineages. She discusses how movement can express identities beyond rigid binaries. She will be joined by Sophiline Cheam-Shapiro, a Cambodian classical dancer, in a far-reaching demonstration of gender in motion.
This discussion presents themes and ideas in Bijayini's latest solo dance piece with live music accompaniment, Trikāyā, finding its NYC premiere at Asia Society on November 5, 2026. Buy tickets here.
This conversation is made possible, in part, with support from NYSEAN, Rajika Puri, and Tino Puri.
About the Speakers:
Bijayini Satpathy, a globally renowned Odissi master with over three decades of career, is celebrated as a performer, teacher, and scholar. At 50, she embarked on a unique solo journey, presenting her debut self-choreography, "Abhipsaa - A Seeking," in 2021 at Duke Performances, garnering widespread acclaim. Commissioned by Duke Performances and Baryshnikov Arts, the New York premiere in 2023 was hosted by Baryshnikov Arts, supported by NEFA's National Dance Project. She recently served as the Alma Hawkins Chair at the UCLA Department of Dance, as a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Residency scholar in 2024 and a 2023-24 fellow at the Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU, she focused on Odissi training and choreography. Named artist in residence at the Metropolitan Museum's Department of Live Arts in 2021-22, Satpathy's experimental work, "Doha," drew inspiration from four iconic galleries. Recognized with the Dance Magazine Award in 2023, she received the Bessie Award in 2020 and was acknowledged as Best Solo Dancer in 2019. Honors in India include the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar by the Ministry of Culture and the Nritya Choodamani title. Satpathy, a Nrityagram alumna, served as Director of Training and Outreach and principal dancer for 25 years. Her contributions extend to lectures, workshops, and publications, with an upcoming essay in The Oxford Handbook of Indian Dance (2026).
Sophiline Cheam-Shapiro is groundbreaking choreographer, educator and performer whose work has helped expand the boundaries of Cambodian classical dance. Her original dances, which often address issues of social justice, have been presented internationally on major stages and on screen. Her dance drama "Phka Sla" was a judicial reparations project of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. Her commissions include those from the Guggenheim’s Works & Process Series, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Vienna’s New Crowned Hope Festival, the feature documentary “Pol Pot Dancing,” and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art. Her lifetime achievement awards include the NEA’s National Heritage Fellowship, USA Knight Fellowship, and Nikkei Asia Prize for Culture. She was a member of the first generation to study and perform classical dance after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime and is expert in the male, female and giant roles. She is a graduate of Phnom Penh's School of Fine Arts and UCLA's Department of World Arts and Cultures. Her essays have been published widely, including in the collections Children of Cambodia’s Killing Fields, Beyond the Apsara and in Hyperallergic.
Registration:
To attend the event in person, please purchase tickets here.