Northeastern events organizer in the week, Disneyland performer on the weekend — meet Indian dancer Uditha Thiagarajan
Northeastern London events manager Uditha Thiagarajan performs across the globe with her dance cohort who specialise in the ancient style of Bharatanatyam.
LONDON — At Northeastern University graduations in London, Uditha Thiagarajan can be spotted with her headset on, quietly conducting the action in an unflappable manner.
It is par for the course in her role as events manager.
But when not at her day job, it is Thiagarajan who is at the center of events through her love of the classical Indian dance form Bharatanatyam.
With her London-based dance group, she performed at Disneyland Paris in October, with the team choreographing a set to accompany Disney fan-favorites such as “Arabian Nights” from the film “Aladdin” and “Zero to Hero” from “Hercules.”
“That was a really cool experience because it was the first time any sort of Indian or South Asian dance form had been performed at Disney on that scale,” Thiagarajan said.
The globe-trotting does not stop there. The Northeastern employee and her cohort of about 25 dancers will be flying to Los Angeles in July to perform. She has also previously shown off her talent at shows in New York, London, Dubai and cities in India.
Thiagarajan started learning Bharatanatyam, an ancient dance form that emerged from Hindu religious storytelling, when she was 7 and growing up in the United Arab Emirates to Indian parents. It is a creative outlet that has provided her with roots and professional contacts wherever she has traveled.
“It has given me the opportunity to connect with so many like-minded people around the world, having lived in three or four different countries, so I’d say that’s the biggest point that it has helped me with,” she said.
It was dancing that brought Thiagarajan to the U.K. and then Northeastern. When at university in Bangalore, the finance graduate started to explore the idea of using her love of dance and Bharatanatyam professionally, having been part of her college dance team.
After a short stint working for accountancy giant KPMG in India after graduation, she headed to the U.S. to study for a master’s degree in performing arts administration. It was there that she became involved with an Indian dance arts company, Navatman, based in New York. Her role there between 2018 and 2022 involved being part of dance exhibitions, teaching the art form, and organizing festivals and concerts that brought artists together from across the globe.
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“All those things helped me pivot into my events role now,” said Thiagarajan.
In the aftermath of the COVID pandemic, Thiagarajan took a “huge leap of faith” and moved her life to the U.K. She decided to apply for the events role at Northeastern, having been involved in both teaching and concert planning while on the East Coast.
“I saw this opportunity as something that brought both of those aspects together and combined it into a role that I thought I’d really enjoy and benefit from,” she said.
Thiagarajan now has the best of both worlds. She describes herself as “super passionate” about putting on exciting and varied events at the university, with graduation just one of many that she is involved with in London.
Then on the weekends and some weeknights, she and her band of dancers rehearse in her friend’s garage as they prepare for the next big show.
“I feel like, if I didn’t have dance, I would have a huge question mark in my life,” said Thiagarajan. “It gives me the creative freedom to express my thoughts in a way that I can’t do in other ways. Movement gives me that creative outlet.”