Movers & Shapers: Preeti Vasudevan

Preeti Vasudevan is an award-winning choreographer and performer creating provocative contemporary works from her Indian tradition. Founder and Artistic Director of Thresh Performing Arts Collaborative, her mission is to create experimental productions that foster a provocative dialogue with identity, and our relationship with heritage cultures and contemporary life.

Preeti is the first artist of Indian descent to receive recognitions from top institutions in the US for her outstanding contribution to dance.

Some highlights include: 2019 Dance Lab New York / Joyce Theater Foundation Creation Grant; ; 2019 Virginia B. Toulmin Fellowship for Women Leaders in Dance; 2018 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists; 2018 Selected Artist, DanceMotion USA Follow-On Program with the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM); 2018 Jerome Robbins Dance Division’s Dance Research Fellowship, NY; 2018-19 LabWorks Residency, New Victory Theater, NY; 2018-19 SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers) Foundation’s 2018-2019 Observership Class; Spring 2016 Resident Fellow, Center for Ballet and the Arts, NY; Live Feed – Artist in Residence, New York Live Arts (2015-17) NY; 2015 DPA Atelier award, LIMS, NY; Presenter, TEDxBarnard, Barnard College, Columbia University, NY
(2013); International Choreographer’s Residency, American Dance Festival (ADF, 2003); Emerging choreographer series Joyce Foundation, NY (2003).

Preeti travels regularly to India continuing her artistic development between New York and India. Some her works have received the highest awards in India, which include: 3 META (Mahindra Excellence in Theater Awards) awards for The Absent Lover (2009) and 7 Meta Nominations for Savitri (2013).

Commissions include Stories by Hand, New York Live Arts, NY (2017) Veiled Moon, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015 (NY); Boxed, National Dance Institute, NY (2014); Drumming a Dream, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (2009) NY; The Absent Lover, Prakriti Foundation, India (2008)

Cultural Diplomacy is key to Preeti’s work through education. As an artist alumna of the US Department of State she leads ground-breaking educational initiatives encouraging self expression and artistic risk through cross-cultural creative exchange among artists and the community.

Preeti partners her educational and creative leadership with world-impacting organizations as Silkroad founded by legendary musician Yo-Yo Ma and the National Dance Institute founded by celebrated dancer Jacques D’Amboise. Preeti’s ground-breaking educational website, Dancing for the Gods (in collaboration with the Dept of Education, NYC) has been developed to build a cultural bridge through creative Indian dance and used in NYC Public Schools.

Preeti holds a Master’s in Dance Studies from Laban Centre London and is a Certified Movement Analyst from the Laban Institute of Movement Studies, NY.