Dancer, Actor and Writer
Actor
My first acting project was in India as a rabbit. I recently had a run with my solo play ‘Nyra’s Dreams’ at Chicago Dramatists, produced by Prop Thtr and directed by Stefan Brún. 2024 is already looking up!
Dancer/Choreographer
I am trained in Indian Classical dance forms- Bharatnatyam and Kathak. As a dancer/choreographer- I explore a hybrid movement form that fuses techniques of Bharatnatyam and Kathak with other movement influences, text, film and technology.
Writer
As a writer, I explore experiences that bridge the ancient and contemporary, uplifting marginalized voices. I part of Playwright’s Network at Chicago Dramatists as their 2024 MEH Scholar. Check out some of my writing on Substack
Recent Projects
Dance
High Concept Labs Fellowship 2023 and Chicago Performance Lab Residency at University of Chicago
A project in development at High Concept Labs as their 2023 Fellow Artist-in-Residence. The current project studies myths and mythological female-identified figures in various cultures with an investigative focus on Indian culture. The story invokes a creature derived from myths and fictitious stories of deities and monsters in Indian Culture.
Dance Film
See Chicago Dance’s Dance for Camera Resident Artist
2022 Selected artist for Dance for Camera Residency with See Chicago Dance. The dance film is through its final editing stage and is being submitted to film festivals held in 2023-2024.
Recognition for the short dance film- ‘Nyra’s Dreams’ so far:
-Finalist at International Short Film Festival in Seoul, Korea
– Official Selection for Best Experimental Film for ARFF Paris/International Awards
– Official Selection for Chalachitram National Film Festival in Assam and Mumbai Shorts International Film, India
-Winner for Short Film at Cinema World Fest Awards (LA, California)
Theatre
Solo play ‘Nyra’s Dreams’ written by Shalaka Kulkarni, Produced by Prop Thtr
‘Nyra’s Dreams’ is a story of Nyra, who walks between different worlds and connects within her fragmented mind to women who teach her about strength, frailty, and hope, helping her realize her real quest to find her way back home to Dyavaprthivi, between heaven and earth. This quasi-solo play includes contemporary and traditional Indian classical dance, media, varied characters and humor to bring Nyra and her story to life.
Nyra is a fictional character derived from research about the Devadasi system and the history of the Indian Classical dance form ‘Bharatnatyam’. The research partially shows that the Devadasi system is believed to have originated in ancient India and still exists because of mythology that has textually, visually, and orally narrated through generations about various deities, monsters, and badass outrageous women in Indian culture.
Dance
APIDA Arts Festival
‘Ringing Soul’, a collaboration with Yoshinojo Fujima. Covered by CBS News Chicago. at Chicago Cultural Center.
Dance Film
Dance film with Momenta Dance Company
Film project with the Chicago dancer Robby Lee Williams directed by Momenta Dance Company’s director- Sarah Najera
Theatre
Passages of Dance & Music
Original Work ‘Durga-si’ presented at Choreographers Showcase curated by Mandala South Asian Performing Arts. It is part of an ongoing hybrid movement practice to experiment with different ways of expressing Indian Classical Dance vocabulary and marginalized stories. Shalaka on WTTW Chicago Tonight
Check out my upcoming performances and news on Instagram
@shalaka_dance
Private Coaching
Contact [email protected] for private movement coaching