Dance Research, Publications and Scholarship 

 

Paromita's academic background is in Dance Ethnography, and she is the first to complete a doctoral degree in Dance Studies in Canada. Her doctoral research focuses on the history of the Guru Debaprasad Das lineage of classical Indian Odissi dance. She has published in academic press as well as dance magazines, and has been a guest lecturer in York University's Department of Music and Dance. 

 

Her research areas also include classical Indian dance and rituals, contemporary directions in classical Indian dance, dances of Romani heritage, Central Asian and Middle Eastern dances, the Cancan revival, and German Expressionist dance. 

 

Publications: 

• "Modernity, post-modernity and the Paradigmatic Mudra: Corporeal Negotiations in the Works of Toronto's Contemporary Bharatanatyam Choreographers." Geographies of Dance: Body, Movement and Corporeal Negotiations. ed. Adam Pine and Olaf Kuhlke. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2014. 

• "Dancing Sisters: the Bollywood Courtesan and the Bellydancer of Egyptian Cinema." Zaghareet Magazine. Jan/Feb 2014 Issue. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Committees and Dance Event Organizing: 

•  Co-organizer, Ensemble Topaz at Annette Libryary, Culture Days (September 2016) with Mike Anklewicz: An interactive behind-the-scenes and educational session on Klezmer, Turkish, Balkan and Central Asian music and dance.

• On the Board of Referees, International Dance and Music Congress, Diyarbakir, Turkey. May 2015. 

• Co-organizer, annual Celebration of Roma Dance Heritage, Culture Days, with Iana Komarnytska. (September 2013, 2014): Flemingdon Park Library Theatre and Palmerston Library Auditorium. 

 

 

Conference Presentations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paromita Kar presenting conference paper at the Romani Arts and Letters Conference, hosted by IRM, NYU, April 2016. Photo Credit: Mike Anklewicz. 

 

 

• "Dancing the Roman Ateşi (Romani Fire): Agencies of Identity and the Tekno Roman of DJ Yilmaz."  Romani Arts and Letters Conference,  hosted by Initiative for Romani Music, Music Department, New York University. April 23-24, 2016. 

 

• "Recontextualization of Rituals in Odissi Dance." Conference of International Council for Traditional Music.    Astana, Kazakhstan. July 16-22, 2015. 

 

• "Dancing the Göbek Atmak: The Politics of Representation in Turkish Romani Dance Practice." Beyond Gypsy  Stereotypes: Voicing Romani Pluralities Conference, hosted by Initiative for Romani Music, Music Department.  New York University. April 24-25, 2015.

 

•  "Dancing Travels, Traveling Dances: International Exchanges and the Classical Indian Dance Revival." Society     of Dance History Scholars Special Topics Conference: Dance as Experience: Progressive Era Origins and      Legacies. Baltimore, United States. March 26-28, 2015.

 

• "Regional Nationalism: Reconsidering the Narrative of Classical Indian Dance History." Critical Approaches  to South Asian Studies Workshop. York University, Toronto, Canada. February 26-27, 2015.

 

•  "Knickers, Fishnets and Punk Rock: An Intimate Ethnography of Toronto's Cancan Revival." Recombinant        Creativity Conference. Ontario College of Art and Design. Toronto, Canada. March 2014. 

 

•  "Negotiations of Space and Identity: A Study of Odissi by the Trinayan Collective." Society of Dance History  Scholars Conference. Stanford, United States. 2009. 

 

•  "From Physical Experience to Physical Mastery: A Historical Ethnography of Rabindric Dance in Toronto's    Bengali Community." CERIS Metropolitan Conference, Toronto, Canada. 2008.