CV

Dancer/Choreographer/Writer/Producer/Director
Jamunadasi@me.com 

• E D U C A T I O N •

•Florida State University, B.F.A. Program in Dance, Tallahassee, FL, 1996–1999
•The School of the Hartford Ballet, Certificate in Dance, Hartford, CT, 1993–1995

• D A N C E • T R A I N I N G •

•Odissi Dance Company, College Station, TX
•Yashaswini Raghuram, Odissi, Portland, OR
•The Portland Ballet, Portland, OR
•Conduit Dance, Inc. Portland, OR
•Linda K. Johnson, Portland, OR
•Princeton Ballet School, Princeton, NJ
•Koresh School of Dance, Philadelphia, PAPhiladelphia School of Dance Arts (Philadanco), Philadelphia, PA 
•Steps on Broadway, NY, NY 
•Dance Space, NY, NY 
•The Limon School, NY, NY
•Broadway Dance Center, NY, NY
•Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
•The School of the Hartford Ballet, Hartford, CT
•Oakland Ballet School, Oakland, CA
•East Bay Dance Center, Oakland, CA
•Berkeley High School, Berkeley, CA

• D I R E C T I N G — P R O D U C I N G — A D M I N I S T R A T I O N •

2012–Present  Dance Writer for Oregon ArtsWatch, and Producer of DanceWatch Weekly
A weekly column that promotes the visibility and viability of dance in Oregon, for Oregon ArtsWatch. DanceWatch contains a running calendar of all the dance performances in Oregon and highlights choreographers, dance companies, and new work, with interviews, previews, and reviews. Portland, OR.

2016–2017   Dance Lab, Co-Director with Taylor Eggan in partnership with Conduit Dance, Inc., Portland, OR
The program was committed to mentoring the growth of teachers and students and providing mentorship to dance teachers in training and high-caliber modern dance training to the community in a welcoming, non-competitive dance environment. My responsibilities include marketing and PR, coordinating teaching schedules, fundraising, documentation, and teaching.

2005–Present  The Outlet Dance Project, Founder & Artistic Director, Hamilton, NJ
The Outlet Dance Project is an annual festival committed to collaboration, community building, interdisciplinary experimentation, and exploring the audience/performer relationship. It provides women choreographers of all traditional and nontraditional dance genres an opportunity to share their artistic vision through stage performance, site-specific dance, and film. My job as the Director includes soliciting artists, curating artist selection, coordinating all performing and technical artists, writing all marketing materials, creating and implementing marketing plans, press liaison, and stage manager.

2014 Co/Mission, Co-directed and Produced with Suzanne Chi, Portland, OR
By providing autonomy and funding, our mission was to allow the dancers to shape their dance careers and goals by choosing a choreographer to work with. This fiscally sponsored project (sponsored by Conduit Dance) culminated in three sold-out performances at Conduit Dance in Portland, Oregon. My job was to select artists, organize rehearsal schedules, solicit donations, coordinate with collaborating artists, write press releases, communicate with the public and press, and perform a solo.

Summer 2005  Operations Intern, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Becket, MA
Responsible for various logistics associated with visiting artists, special event set up, public presence on the grounds, and office spaces. Visiting artist management duties included attending dance company meetings, coordinating artist hospitality, and assisting traveling artists and students with their arrival and departure. Event work included physically setting up receptions and talks and operating audio equipment. When the public is present on the grounds, tasks include ensuring a safe and clean environment, assisting disabled patrons, and directing parking traffic. Support of office spaces included computer and phone technology and minor repairs.

As the technical production assistant for Inside/Out, the Pillow’s outdoor stage hosts four weekly dance productions. Responsibilities included attendance at artist meetings and rehearsals, preparation of the stage, handling of props and scenery, set up and operation of the audio system, and breakdown and storage of equipment after each performance.

2002–2003 Customer Service Representative and Dance Instructor, American Repertory Ballet’s Princeton Ballet School, Princeton, NJ
Administrative support for the Executive Director, School Director, Artistic Staff, and faculty, Managed front desk for 1500 + client base, Filing/faxing/copying/data entry.

2002 Office Systems Coordinator, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA   
Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine. Administrative support for two professors, departmental web page manager, managing national and international travel, and data entry. 

• A D M I N I S T R A T I O N •         

2001–2001 Administrative Assistant, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Center for Mental Health Policy and Service Research
Scheduled meetings and conferences, catering liaison, currier, data entry, research assistant, edited manuscripts, responsible for completing Federal Grant Applications, updated web page, receptionist, mailing, filing/faxing/copying.

1999–2001  Temp work for various NYC temp companies
Answering phones, filing, stuffing envelopes, etc.

1999  Dance Instructor/Arts in Education Coordinator/Co-Artistic Director of the 2000 Student Ensemble, Pennsylvania Dance Theatre, State College, PA
• Taught ballet, pointe, modern dance, jazz, and children’s creative dance -Taught creative dance to grades k-12 in Pennsylvania public schools.
• Arts in Education Coordinator for Pennsylvania Dance Theatre
• Co-Artistic Director of PDT’s Student Ensemble 

• D A N C E • W R I T I N G •

•2012–Present  Dance Writer/ Producer of DanceWatch Weekly, a weekly column that promotes the visibility and viability of dance in Oregon for Oregon ArtsWatch.
•2020  Freelance Writer, Circus Talk
•2017 Freelance Writer, The Oregonian
•2015–2016   Freelance Writer, Artslandia, Portland, OR
•2015   Contributor at Life As A Modern Dancer Blog, Oakland, CA http://blog.lifeasamoderndancer.com/2015/06/a-modern-dancers-guide-toportland-oregon.html
•2014 Blogger for the Portland Institute For Contemporary Art, TBA Festival, Portland, OR

• D A N C E • T E A C H I N G •

I have taught classes in Ballet, Modern, Jazz, pointe, choreography, Zumba, Pilates, and the classical Indian dance form Odissi for children and adults in California, Florida, NYC, New Jersey, and Oregon. 

•2022 Metropolitan Learning Center, Portland, Oregon
•2022  Milwaukie High School, Milwaukie, Oregon
•2010 Arts Youniversity, Hamilton, NJ
•2006–2009  The Dance Corner, West Windsor, NJ
•2006–2011  RWJ Hamilton Center for Health and Wellness, Hamilton, NJ
•2007  Old Bridge School of Dance, Old Bridge, NJ
•2005–2006   Princeton YWCA, Princeton, NJ
•2003–2004  Princeton Ballet School, Princeton, NJ
•2000 Young Dancers in Repertory: Taught a 6-week creative dance workshop for kindergarten classes at P.S. 102 in Brooklyn, NY
•1999–2000   Pennsylvania Dance Theatre: Taught ballet, Pointe, modern, jazz, and children’s creative dance classes.  Also taught in Pennsylvania Dance Theatre’s Arts in Education Program: Taught creative dance to children and special-needs students, ranging from K–12, in Pennsylvania’s public school system
•1999 Godby High School, Tallahassee, FL. Teaching internship for Florida State University. Taught a five-week modern dance workshop for 30 students
•1999  Florida State University. Taught master ballet classes for non-dance-major students
•1998–1999  Dance Repertory Theatre (Florida State University). Assisted in the community outreach master classes and movement workshops for the particular student population and students from grade school through college
•1993–1994  The School of The Hartford Ballet. Taught master classes from the dance history curriculum to students in the Hartford public schools
•1992  East Bay Dance Center, Oakland, CA. Taught beginning ballet to six-year-olds.

• C H O R E O G R A P H I C • W O R K S •

•2016–2017  The Kitchen Sink, a trio, funded by a RACC Project Grant, created for three dancers catalyzed by my having hip surgery in the spring of 2015 and the continuing experience of needing to adjust to a new and different normal of how I have been able to use my body. The work explored finding freedom in movement despite limitations in mobility. “The Kitchen Sink” was invited to perform in Berkeley, California, in April 2017 as part of Shawl-Anderson’s Up Close/East Bay Dance Festival.
•2013 Time and Space or Sometimes I Cry While Doing the Dishes, Portland, OR & Hamilton, NJ
•2011 Solo and group pieces choreographed for Devoted by Subashini Ganeshan, created in collaboration with Subashini Ganeshan and Michelle Fuji, Studio 2, Portland, OR
•2009–2011  Heat, Earth, Water, and Palmistry was developed collaboratively with dancers in Kalamandir Dance Company, Directed by Malabika Guha, NJ
•2007  Domestic Arts, commissioned by Grounds For Sculpture, NJ
•2006–2007  Parts of a Part, commissioned by In Motion Dance Company
Problem Solved, commissioned by Grounds For Sculpture, NJ
•2006  Life of Love, solo, produced by 7 Dance Co., Philadelphia, PA
•2005  Created choreography for Cherubin and Le Nozze di Figaro for New Jersey Opera Theatre, Princeton, NJ
•2005  Don’t Cry, solo, The Outlet Dance Project, NJ
•2002  Workin’ it out, a solo, performed in the Summer Solo Showcase at The Adrienne, Philadelphia, PA
•2000  Choreographer for Pennsylvania Dance Theater’s student ensemble 
•1999  Solitude, a quartet produced by Florida State University 
•1998  Heritage, solo, produced by Florida State University

• C O N C E R T • D A N C E • P E R F O R M A N C E •

Odissi

•2018–Present  Under the tutelage of Odissi teacher Yashaswini Raghuram, I have performed Mangalacharan, Megh Pallavi, Moksha, and Batu, dances from the Odissi repertoire choreographed by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra and Ratikant Mohapatra at temples and festivals in Oregon. 

Contemporary

•2020 Untitled, RealTime Interspecies Assemblage for PNW Native Plant Species, dancing humans, COVID space realities, Bill Will’s mind, and the particular circumstances choreographed by Linda K. Johnson performed at Pioneer Square in Portland, Oregon.
•2016–2017 The Kitchen Sink, a trio funded by a RACC Project Grant, created for three dancers catalyzed by my having hip surgery in the spring of 2015 and the continuing experience of needing to adjust to a new and different normal of how I have been able to use my body. The work explored finding freedom in movement despite limitations in mobility. “The Kitchen Sink” was invited to perform in Berkeley, California, in April 2017 as part of Shawl-Anderson’s Up Close/East Bay Dance Festival.
•2014  Like a Corvette, a solo choreographed for me by Linda K. Johnson for Co/Mission, Conduit, Portland, OR
•2013  Time and Space or Sometimes I Cry While Doing the Dishes, by Jamuna Chiarini, Hamilton, NJ, and Portland, OR.
•2013  Performed with performance artist Linda Austin at East End, Portland, OR
•2012  So I Married Abraham Lincoln, by Randee Paufve, Conduit, Portland, OR
•2011  Devoted, created in collaboration with Subashini Ganeshan and Michelle Fuji, Studio 2, Portland, OR
•2009–2011  Heat, Prithibi, Water, Palmistry, co-choreographer, and founding member, Kalamandir Dance Company, NJ. http://www.kalamandirdanceco.com/
•2005  From the Horse’s Mouth, Tina Croll & Jamie Cunningham, Princeton, NJ
•2003  The Mazurkas, by Jose Limon, Acrodance Theatre, NJ
•2002  Danco 2 Company Member, Philadelphia, PA
•2000–2001  Essence by Martial Roumain, Tell it to the Lord by Ronn Pratt, Alpha-Omega Theatrical Dance Company, NY, NY
•1999–2000  What would you have done by Heidi Latsky, Hometown by Joanna Mendleshaw, Too Much on my Plate by Claire Porter, Night of Many Dreams by Kathy Young, Sephardic Songs by Ze’eva Cohen, The Raven by Ann VanKuren, Pennsylvania Dance Theatre, PA

Ballet
•2008 Nutcracker, Russian Soloist, Hamilton Ballet, Hamilton, NJ

Jazz/Musical Theater/Triple Threat
•2010  Romeo & Juliet The Rock Musical, Hamilton, NJ
•2009 CATS, Cassandra, Villagers Theater, Somerset, NJ
•2009  Gypsy Queen, The Man of La Mancha, Onstage Productions, Hamilton, NJ
•2005  Empty Sky Rising, Robert Boross, New Brunswick, NJ

Opera
•2001–2010   Madame Butterfly, A Masked Ball, Aida, Pearl Fishers, Il Trovatore, La Traviata (Principal Dancer), Don Giovanni, La Perichole, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
•2004 Don Giovanni, L’enfant et les Sortilèges, New Jersey Opera Theatre, Princeton, NJ
•2003  Eugene Onegin, Opera Festival of New Jersey, Lawrenceville, NJ

Film
•2011 A dancer in The Rehearsal, a film Directed by Lauren Steffen

• M E N T O R S H I P •

•2013–2015  A member of CORPUS, a mentoring program directed by Portland dance artist Linda K. Johnson. 

• M E M B E R S H I P S •

•2015  Dance Critics Association
•2001-2010  AGMA-American Guild of Musical Artists

• G R A N T S • A N D • A W A R D S •

•2016  Recipient of a Regional Arts and Culture Project Grant for my group choreography, “The Kitchen Sink.”
•1996–1999   Awarded the Friends of Dance scholarship, Florida State University

• S C H O L A R S H I P S •

•1999  Scholarship student, Steps on Broadway, NY, NY
•1999  Scholarship student, Dance Space, NY, NY
•1998  Awarded a full scholarship to attend the first Urban Bush Women-Summer Leadership Institute titled, “Undoing Racism.’

---