Bala Devi Chandrashekar is a professor of practice specializing in Asian performing arts. Her approach is interdisciplinary and involves lecturing and researching in performance studies juxtaposed with anthropology, culture and art history. She is the artistic director of SPNAPA Academy of Performing Arts -- a premier arts academy based in Princeton, New Jersey.

Bala’s career has been atypical, falling into two phases -- one as a lecturer and researcher and one as a performer. As an artist, she became renowned as a soloist in developing her dance technique, and currently she works on a number of projects that raise the awareness of the rich history of the performing arts with respect to dance and its religious and spiritual significance. Bala works on the study of movement technique investigating the relationship of the archive and the repertoire, from an interdisciplinary domain. Bala’s focus on lecture and research blends seamlessly with her concert platform. Her lectures incorporate the core architectural components of ancient temple sculptures -- Karanas, governed by artistic laws of value bridging disciplines together. She has participated in numerous lectures and intercultural and performing arts events as a faculty member, consultant and mentor and is the recipient of several prestigious grants from state and private foundations including the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, Texas Commission on the Arts and Ohio State Council on the Arts.

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