Nitya Seshadri Vedantam  (MFA, BA) a graduate student of dance studies at SUNY Buffalo, is a performer-teacher-choreographer of the Indian Classical dance Bharatanatyam. She holds a diploma in Bharatanatyam from Kalakshetra and a MFA Dance from Hyderabad Central University. She is an empaneled artiste of the Broadcasting Ministry of India. She has conducted several performances, master classes and workshops across the globe, including University at Buffalo, SUNY Fredonia, Purdue University, Hyderabad Central University and MGI Mauritius. Her recent conference presentations include ACDA North-East Regional Conference 2018, NYSDEA Rochester 2018, DSSE Buffalo 2018, NDEO San Diego 2018 (upcoming). Her dance collaborations span across varied genres of dance including Sattriya, Chau, Kathak and Modern dance. She was recently elected to serve as the graduate representative on the board of National Dance Education Organization (NDEO).

Nitya’s research explores the mind-body connection through dance and the symbiotic links between Bharatanatyam and Modern dance, gender constructs as foregrounding patriarchy and the potential of dance as a site to confirm, subvert, challenge and re-conceptualize these gender norms. Nitya is also a certified Hatha Yoga instructor.