About
To advance contemporary movement arts in India through education, creation, research, technology and international collaboration, rooted in the physical wisdom of Indian traditions.
The Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts is Bengaluru's and South Asia's leading institution for contemporary dance and movement arts, founded in July 1992 by choreographer and dancer Jayachandran Palazhy. Its activities span education (the only Diploma in Movement Arts and Mixed Media in India), creation (an internationally touring repertory company), research (the NAGARIKA project on Indian physical traditions), stage technology (TransMedia Technologies), and the Attakkalari India Biennial -- an international festival of dance and digital arts that is South Asia's premier platform for contemporary movement. The centre operates from its campus in Bengaluru and has collaborated with institutions across 30+ countries.
Jayachandran Palazhy trained in Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Kalarippayattu, ballet and contemporary dance before working as a performer and choreographer in the UK for 14 years. He chose Bengaluru deliberately when returning to India in 1992 -- not Kerala (too difficult for funding), not Chennai (too conservative about classical forms), not Delhi (too politically charged) or Mumbai (too commercially oriented). Bengaluru's mix of traditional and contemporary culture, and its openness to experimentation, suited his vision. The centre's foundational philosophy -- Traditional Physical Wisdom, Innovation and Technology -- bridges India's physical performance heritage with contemporary artistic practice and digital technology. The Attakkalari India Biennial, launched in the early 2000s, brought international contemporary dance to India on a scale previously unavailable, and created a platform for South Asian choreographers to engage with global networks. The NAGARIKA research project, the first of its kind in India, documented the movement principles of Bharatanatyam and Kalarippayattu in a form accessible to contemporary practitioners.
Founding & Leadership
Jayachandran Palazhy is a dancer, choreographer and educator trained in Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Kalarippayattu, contemporary dance and ballet. He was active as a performer and choreographer in the UK for 14 years before founding Attakkalari in 1992. He has been invited as artist, choreographer and consultant to institutions across 30+ countries.
Attakkalari's significance for India's performing arts ecosystem is structural: it created the infrastructure for contemporary dance as a serious practice in India when no such infrastructure existed. Before Attakkalari, contemporary dance in India had no dedicated training programme, no professional repertory company, no international festival platform, and no systematic research base. The centre built all four simultaneously, and its graduates and collaborators have shaped the contemporary dance field across India and internationally. The Biennial's format -- combining performance, residency, education and digital arts -- remains the model for contemporary dance programming in South Asia.
[Atlas Perspective] CultureAtlas profiles Attakkalari as one of India's most important performing arts institutions, with a significance that extends well beyond its institutional scale. It has been the defining institution for contemporary dance in India over three decades, building field infrastructure from zero. Its Bengaluru base is both a geographic statement -- that India's cultural institutions need not all be in Delhi or Mumbai -- and a practical advantage, enabling a cross-disciplinary sensibility that the centre has made its signature. The Attakkalari India Biennial is a separately significant cultural event that the Atlas will profile as a festival entity.