Bangladeshi Dance Photo Archive
This research project envisions the creation of an online archive of historical photographs of Bangladeshi dance. It addresses the absence of organized archives of visual material on dance practices of Bangladesh, which was a significant challenge faced by the project lead Dr. Munjulika R. Tarah during fieldwork in Bangladesh. This is the first digital archive dedicated exclusively to historical photographs of Bangladeshi dance.
Through this project, dance-related photographs from the personal collection of Bangladeshi dancers have been archived with the intention of making it accessible to future scholars interested in Bangladeshi performance cultures. The collection started with a focus on dancers whose careers spanned from the 1940s to the 1980s, with the hope that the archive will grow to include other periods as well. If you have historical photographs of Bangladeshi dance that you would like to be included in this archive,
please contact Dr. Munjulika here.
This project was initiated in 2022 with funding from the Class of 1945 World Fellowship at Williams College.
Personal Photo Collections
This archive is a collaboration between the Bangladeshi dancers who have safeguarded these photographs for many decades and the project team, consisting of Dr. Munjulika, research assistants Swagata Mazumder and Zuairiyah Mouli, and web designer Deepayan Bose. The photographs were scanned in the homes of the dancers, and they retain the hard-copy of the images. During home visits, information about the images as remembered by the individual dancers were documented and are included with the photographs. But in some cases, given the advanced age of the dancers, contextual and factual information were not always available. Each dancer in the archive has given permission for their photographs to be included in this digital archive, and for this material to be used for research and education purposes.
To access the archive, please click on the name of a specific dancer below.
Meet The Team
Research Assistant
Mouli is a Bharatanatyam dancer and teacher, and is currently an Assistant Director (Program Production, Dance) at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. As an ICCR scholar, she completed her MA in Performing Arts (Bharatnatyam) with Distinction from Bangalore University, India.
Research Assistant
Swagata, aka Bboy Krazy Phyx, is a core member and choreographer of the first ever b-boying crew of Bangladesh called Anonymous Crew and one of the co-founders of Street Dancers Bangladesh Community. He is also a Senior Executive (IMC Strategy) at Samsung Electronics, Bangladesh.
Web Designer
Deepayan is a visual artist and designer with about a decade of experience in graphic design, illustration, and photography. Passionate about highlighting the human element and crafting stories, he aims to collaborate with clients to bring their brands and narratives to life.
Project Lead
Dr. Munjulika has been doing research on Bangladeshi dance since 2009. She was trained in Bengali music while growing up in Dhaka, and was a student of several dance forms during her education in the US.