Devi

All awards headshots were taken in the photo studio on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on March 15, 2020. (Isaac Hale, UVU Marketing)

Narrator

DEBJANI CHAKRAVARTHY

Debjani is an academic, artist, and poet. She is a faculty member at The School of Cultural and Social Transformation at the University of Utah. Her current research focuses on invisible labor and trauma-informed pedagogies. She is a co-editor for Frontiers, A Journal of Women Studies. She believes in the transcendental and transformative powers of art forms such as
Indian classical dance. 

Debjani and Jyothsna collaborated to build the counter-narrative in English for the title piece, Devi.

Musicians

DR. RUMA CHOPRA

Dr. Ruma Chopra is the Dean of the School of Cultural and Social Transformation

SUPRAJA RANGANATHAN

Supraja Ranganathan is a PhD candidate in Biochemistry at the University of Utah. She is also a trained Carnatic vocalist under the tutelage of Smt. Nandini Sankar and Smt. Sumitra Vasudev. She has performed at various venues in India since her debut 3-hour concert (also known as Arangetram) at the age of 14 in Chennai, India. As an undergraduate in India, Supraja was an integral part of her university’s Carnatic music club, Gaanavarshini, where she brought together Carnatic music lovers to share their knowledge of this art form. Since 2022, Supraja has been a part of local ensemble presentations at the annual Nitya Nritya Festivals and local community outreach events across the Salt Lake Valley as part of the Nitya Nritya Foundation

DEBANJAN BHATTACHARYA

Debanjan Bhattacharya is a disciple of maestro Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri of Lukhnow Gharana (style). Debanjan started learning Tabla in Kolkata, India, at a very young age with the support and encouragement of his parents. His initial training in Tabla was nurtured by his grandfather Late Sri Damarupani Bhattacharya and his uncle Sri Sudipto Bhattacharya. Later, he also studied with Late Ratan Ghatak who was a senior disciple of Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri. 

Debanjan has accompanied artists like Ken Zuckerman, Meenal Datar, Alam Khan, and Arjun Verma, and he has also performed solos. He has given lectures on Tabla and Indian tradition at the University of Connecticut, Utah State University, Brigham Young University, and Utah Valley University among other venues.

 While he holds a career as a professor of Statistics, Debanjan remains busy with performing and teaching Tabla and continues to pursue his love for music under the tutelage and blessings of his illustrious Guru Sri Swapan Chaudhuri

Dancers

SHRINIVASAN RAGHURAMAN

Dr. Shrinivasan Raghuraman is a neuroscientist working at the University of Utah. He trained in different Indian Classical art forms, including Violin, Tabla, Sitar, and Bharatanatyam. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Music from Khairagarh University and trained with Guru Smt. Anita Nair (Bharatanatyam) and Guru Sri Rupendra Sharma (violin).

To continue his passion for Bharatanatyam, he joined the Nitya Nritya Foundation and has been training with Jyothsna Sainath since 2016. He strongly believes that arts fuel creativity in research and passionately works to disseminate arts and science in the Salt Lake Valley.