Meghna Bhardwaj (b. 1987) is a dance artist and scholar currently based in New Delhi, India. She has trained in classical ballet, jazz, hip-hop, modern and contemporary dance techniques at The Danceworx Performing Arts Academy, New Delhi where she has also taught and performed as part of the repertory company. Additionally, she has done a year-long training in Bharatanatyam at Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi. In 2019, she received her Doctorate in Dance/Performance Studies, under the supervision of Dr.Urmimala Sarkar Munsi at School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She has taught as Ad-hoc faculty at Shiv Nadar University, and delivered guest lectures and workshops at Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Ashoka University, Delhi-NCR, and Presidency University, Kolkata.

In her artistic practice, Meghna is focussed on finding dance beyond human body and producing movement sensations via objects, text, sound, and images. She likes to device both beginning-to-end continuum in the shape of a dance piece as much as choreographed spaces involving durational video/sound/object installations that can generate a participatory experience for her audience. For Meghna, her key impulse is to dismantle the idea of moving body into incomplete fragments rather than imagining her as a wholesome, self-sustaining entity, and evoke with this fragmented body methods of creating friendships and artistic exchanges.

 

Meghna has been an artist-in-residence at Contemporary Performing Arts Research Residency, The Esplanade, Singapore (2022); ARTEFACT#2 Creative Residency, Dance Nucleus, Singapore (2021); Choreolab, World Dance Alliance, Singapore (2015), Gati Summer Dance Residency, New Delhi (2015); American Dance Festival, WDA, China (2014); Marameo, Berlin (2013); Dance Journey Program, Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, Israel (2014); and Taipedia Dance Festival, Taiwan (2011). She has danced for Ahn Ae-soon, ex-director of Korean National Contemporary Dance Company, and Indian choreographer and activist Mandeep Raikhy. Meghna’s works have been shown at 4Bid Gallery, Amsterdam, In-Motion Chicago Dance Film Festival, March Dance Chennai, Attakkalari Biennial Bangalore, Dance Round Table 2018 Taiwan, and Dance Bridges Festival, Kolkata. Meghna has presented her scholarly papers at various international conferences such as IFTR, Stockholm 2016, ICTM, Bangkok 2019, and Mellon-Crisis of Democracy Summer School, Dubrovnik, 2019. She has published her scholarly work in peer-reviewed national and international journals as well as dance magazines and reports. Meghna has been an Inlaks artist-in-residence at FACETS, Attakkalari Biennial 2017, Bangalore; and has received several tuition-fee off scholarships from World Dance Alliance, Asia Pacific between 2011 and 2015.
 

Meghna expresses her gratitude to:

Alecia Neo, Ashley Lobo, Daniel Kok, Jayachandran Palazhy, Lt. Ting-Ting Chang, Mandeep Raikhy, Manju Sharma, Marcel Zaes, Marina Collard, Marion Louise Buchmann, Navtej Johar, Padmini Chettur, Ragini Bhajanka, Sanchita Sharma, Shohini Dutta, Srinivas Aditya Mopidevi, Susan Sentler, Urmimala Sarkar Munsi, Yehuda Máor, Yuko Harada, Youngsun Kong