Sumana Sen Mandala, MFA
Founding Director
Sumana's initial training under Smt. Manjula Mudambi and then Kalashri Smt. Asha Gopal led to her arangetram (debut) in 1989 in Arizona, as a student of the Pandanallur school of Bharata-Natyam. Her experience during a summer intensive under Smt. Thankamani Kutty in Kolkata, India, encouraged her to refine her technique in abhinaya. While at the University of Virginia, Dr. Aruna Viswadoss guided her in more deeply examining Tamil language and literature for dance. Sumana spent 2 years in Sapporo, Japan, where she had the honor of studying and performing Kagura (Shinto ritual dance) with the Hokkaido Shrine Troupe and of being in conversation with buyō (舞踊) master and scholar Gunji-sensei (郡司正勝), exploring the practical and spiritual connections across cultures in dance. She also performed Bharata Natyam and conducted comparative dance workshops there.
Sumana sought guidance under Padma Vibhushan Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam at Nrithyodaya, Chennai, India, in 1996 and spent 3 years immersed in a guru-shishya setting, working to master Bharata-Nrityam and the Natyashastra-based pedagogy of imparting Indian classical dance. As part of her training, she also learnt the Vazhuvoor style of Bharata-Natyam and served as research assistant to Dr. Padma and instructor for primary and intermediate classes at Nrithyodaya. She performed extensively in India with Dr. Padma's troupe, including the Chidambaram Natyanjali Festivals, Doordarshan, and a debut performance under Dr. Padma at Nungambakkam Cultural Academy (January 1999). She continues to stay in conversation with Dr. Padma for guidance in inquiry around all things dance.
Sumana continues to perfect her art with practice, teaching, and collaborations in dance arts, including earning a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Dance at Arizona State University (ASU) in 2020 and becoming an ASU Gammage Teaching Artist. She has published her work in peer reviewed journals and presented at various conferences in dance, education and equity. Her practice and research is a continual re-examining of the meaning of tradition in dances of India and its value for dance practitioners in contemporary US contexts. Sumana’s advocacy and facilitator training in Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process® (CRP), the YWCA Minneapolis Racial Justice Circle Facilitation, and sexual and domestic violence prevention supports her focus on the concept of rasa—deep engagement—to center collective knowledge, the value of every voice, and responsibility and response in any space she enters.
In her current projects, Sumana explores the physicality of expressive dance (nritya) in Bharata-Nrityam, to facilitate dialogue and collaborative works around hushed narratives, such as intimate partner violence and menstruation. Her current project Listen Hold Believe can be viewed HERE. She received the 2024 Katherine Lindholm-Lane Award for Arizona Dance Educator of the Year. Her work is supported by various organizations, including the National Dance Education Organization and Arizona Commission on the Arts. Sumana has served as Faculty in the School of Music, Dance and Theater and is an Arts & Democracy Fellow at the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at ASU. She is Co-Director of Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process® (CRP) Certification Program. She is founding Director of Dansense-Nrtyabodha, a progressive organization serving the Arizona dance community for over 25 years, centering a pedagogy of radical imagination for her students, providing fiscal sponsorship to independent artists, and prioritizing programming where performance arts and audiences that would not usually find themselves in the same spaces collide in generative inquiry and joy.
Sumana sought guidance under Padma Vibhushan Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam at Nrithyodaya, Chennai, India, in 1996 and spent 3 years immersed in a guru-shishya setting, working to master Bharata-Nrityam and the Natyashastra-based pedagogy of imparting Indian classical dance. As part of her training, she also learnt the Vazhuvoor style of Bharata-Natyam and served as research assistant to Dr. Padma and instructor for primary and intermediate classes at Nrithyodaya. She performed extensively in India with Dr. Padma's troupe, including the Chidambaram Natyanjali Festivals, Doordarshan, and a debut performance under Dr. Padma at Nungambakkam Cultural Academy (January 1999). She continues to stay in conversation with Dr. Padma for guidance in inquiry around all things dance.
Sumana continues to perfect her art with practice, teaching, and collaborations in dance arts, including earning a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Dance at Arizona State University (ASU) in 2020 and becoming an ASU Gammage Teaching Artist. She has published her work in peer reviewed journals and presented at various conferences in dance, education and equity. Her practice and research is a continual re-examining of the meaning of tradition in dances of India and its value for dance practitioners in contemporary US contexts. Sumana’s advocacy and facilitator training in Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process® (CRP), the YWCA Minneapolis Racial Justice Circle Facilitation, and sexual and domestic violence prevention supports her focus on the concept of rasa—deep engagement—to center collective knowledge, the value of every voice, and responsibility and response in any space she enters.
In her current projects, Sumana explores the physicality of expressive dance (nritya) in Bharata-Nrityam, to facilitate dialogue and collaborative works around hushed narratives, such as intimate partner violence and menstruation. Her current project Listen Hold Believe can be viewed HERE. She received the 2024 Katherine Lindholm-Lane Award for Arizona Dance Educator of the Year. Her work is supported by various organizations, including the National Dance Education Organization and Arizona Commission on the Arts. Sumana has served as Faculty in the School of Music, Dance and Theater and is an Arts & Democracy Fellow at the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at ASU. She is Co-Director of Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process® (CRP) Certification Program. She is founding Director of Dansense-Nrtyabodha, a progressive organization serving the Arizona dance community for over 25 years, centering a pedagogy of radical imagination for her students, providing fiscal sponsorship to independent artists, and prioritizing programming where performance arts and audiences that would not usually find themselves in the same spaces collide in generative inquiry and joy.
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Artist Statement
I dance for beauty, power and community. Each stage of the process—body, mind, heart--builds up to squeeze out the juice from the stories i move. These stories grow from collaborations with my community partners. They grow when our histories and our present come together. We listen and witness. And we respond with dance, the sum of moving, thinking and feeling. When you join me, our dance will be a call to community—none out, all in.
I live in process where Bharata-Nrityam technique, collaboration and creative tools intersect. I teach so my students can be close to Indian culture; i also teach so they can more fully grow in their contemporary context. My work is my message to them and to all who engage, who imbibe the rasa: in The Power of YOU, that we are not alone and that we have choices; in EMBRACE, that response and responsibility are the foundation of meaningful change; in Kriti, that different perspectives help us move with grace and deeper intention; and in Listen Hold Believe and Changing Bodies Shifting Landscapes that each of us has the privilege of voice as well as the privilege to listen.
I believe that dance is a powerful way to move from being a witness to being in withness.
I live in process where Bharata-Nrityam technique, collaboration and creative tools intersect. I teach so my students can be close to Indian culture; i also teach so they can more fully grow in their contemporary context. My work is my message to them and to all who engage, who imbibe the rasa: in The Power of YOU, that we are not alone and that we have choices; in EMBRACE, that response and responsibility are the foundation of meaningful change; in Kriti, that different perspectives help us move with grace and deeper intention; and in Listen Hold Believe and Changing Bodies Shifting Landscapes that each of us has the privilege of voice as well as the privilege to listen.
I believe that dance is a powerful way to move from being a witness to being in withness.