Kamala Devam

Kamala Devam

Senior Lecturer

Dance making, Choreographic research, Bharatanatyam (South Indian classical dance) theory and technique, Contemporary dance technique, Hybrid Forms Choreographic Research, Arts Funding, Fitness Training, Rehearsal Direction, Mentoring

Department of Music, Writing & Performance

Kamala Devam is a Senior Lecturer on the BA (Hons) Dance course, lecturing on technique, choreography, and industry modules. A multilingual artist specialising in Bharatanatyam and Western contemporary dance, she performed internationally with contemporary South Asian dance companies for 20 years and founded Kamala Devam Company in 2016 to share her choreographic and educational work across the UK.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Arts in Dance Performance and Choreography, San Francisco State University
  • Certified Pilates Mat Teacher (Symmetry of Movement, Mill Valley, CA), Residential Kalaripayattu training programme (Kalari Gurukulam, Bengaluru, India)
Kamala Devam

OVERVIEW

Kamala studied Bharatanatyam (South Indian classical dance) for thirteen years in Northern California with Kalakshetra Katherine and K.P. Kunhiraman, then went on to receive her BA in Dance Performance and Choreography at San Francisco State University. 

As a dance artist, Kamala’s performing credits over the last 20 year include: the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony with Akram Khan Company, touring internationally for over 8 years with Shobana Jeyasingh Dance and working with many contemporary and contemporary South Asian companies (English National Opera, Akademi, Neon Dance, KalpanArts, ATMA Dance, Sadhana Dance Company, Seeta Patel Dance) and independent choreographers (Jose Agudo, Luca Silvestrini, Merav Israel, Stephanie Shoeber, etc.)

She's collaborated with choreographer/dancer Seeta Patel on their multi-award-winning dance film The Art of Defining Me (2013) and toured duet works (Alter Ego, 2007 and Last One Standing, 2009) and her own solo (FretLess, 2010) in Europe and the US. Kamala performed for Seeta Patel Dance’s “The Rite of Spring” at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London in 2023 and toured the production in Italy in 2024. 

Kamala formed Kamala Devam Company in 2016 to further explore her interests between western and Indian aesthetics, themes and movement forms, with inspirations ranging from her lifetime of experience in Bharatanatyam and Contemporary dance, to the explosive qualities of acrobatics and Kalaripayattu. Her company shows and education work have been supported by Arts Council England, UK dance organisations and theatre and university residencies. KDC embarked on its first UK tour in Autumn 2018 with the show Ankusha and Other Mysteries and received national critical acclaim. Kamala is also a commissioned choreographer, making work for opera as well as university and youth dance companies, and mentoring on UK choreographic development programmes. 

She has rehearsal directed for many dance companies in the UK and abroad. Before joining UEL’s Dance Team as a Senior Lecturer, Kamala worked as an HPL on the Dance programme from 2013-2024. She was an Associate Lecturer at the University of Surrey from 2019 to the closure of the dance programme in 2022.

CURRENT RESEARCH

Kamala’s research into hybrid form or multi-disciplinary choreographic methods from 2015-2020 has resulted in the production of many dance works as Artistic Director of Kamala Devam Company. Two of these works were contemporary dance-based and sourced elements of acrobatics and Bharatanatyam working within various themes of identity and philosophy: Kamala’s solo Less of Me (2015) and the trio Ankusha (2015-2016). In 2016, Kamala worked with popping and locking UEL graduate Kamila Lewandowska to devise Babushka vs. Renaissance Man, which looked at the meeting points between popping and kalaripayattu Indian martial arts within the various contexts of ‘the battlefield’. Kamala worked in collaboration with Indian and Western classical musicians from 2017-2018 to create Jati-Swara-Leela - her first Bharatanatyam choreography. These works went on national tour in the evening, Ankusha and Other Mysteries, in 2018. From 2019-2020, she completed Research and Development on Centrica, an acro-contemporary quartet sourcing elements of South Asian movement forms which challenge humanity’s centric perspectives and contrast them with the unifying mathematical phenomenon of the Golden Ratio in science and art.  She released an animation based on the themes of Centrica later that year, in response to Covid and in collaboration with animator “La Gingol” Sandra Clua. In 2021, Kamala collaborated with director Lucy Bradford and composer Helen Caddick to create contemporary choreography for the original opera Sophie, based on the life and art of Dadaist Sophie Tauber-Arp. R&D excerpts of Sophie were performed with dancers, singers and a live orchestra at the Tête-a-Tête: The Opera Festival (The Cockpit, 2021).  

Kamala’s choreographic work and pedagogical approaches have been written about in several academic publications including “Flexible Bodies: British South Asian Dancers in an Age of Neoliberalism” by Dr Anusha Kedhar, “Emerging Contemporary Bharatanatyam Choreoscape in Britain: the City, Hybridity and Technoculture” by Dr Suparna Banerjee and “Moving into and Beyond Form: Sankalpam, Bharata Natyam and the UK Dance Landscape” by Dr Debbie Fionn Barr. 

EXTERNAL ROLES

  • Director of Kamala Devam Company
  • Choreographic Mentor on "Emerge" choreographic development programme (Nupur Arts, 2021 & 2023)
  • Adjudicator on BBC Young Dancer (2014, 2016, 2018), Navadal Competition (2017) and Akademi South Asian Dance UK auditions (2016, 2018)
  • Rehearsal Director for the following dance companies: Nava Dance Theatre, Payal Ramachandani, Shyam Dattani, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance, Aakash Odedra Company, ATMA Dance, Sadhana Dance Company, Akademi South Asian Dance UK, Seeta Patel Dance, Agudo Dance Company.

TEACHING

  • BA (Hons) Dance

    Transform your passion into movement with a dance degree at the University of East London. Elevate your skills for a dynamic career in the world of dance.

INDUSTRY PARTNERS

PUBLICATIONS

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