Sara Mikolai is a a choreographer and interdisciplinary artist born in Berlin, of Sri Lankan-Tamil-German descent. With a background in dance, in her work she focuses on a critical and poetic engagement with epistemologies of dance through somatic practice, critical inquiry and balancing an equilibrium of contextualizing the personal, historical and contemporary in art and everyday life. With a focus on the body as well as activating sensorial experiences, she mainly works with live performance, sound, video, installation and writing. Attending to both artistic practice and research has been essential for her to hold a sustainable commitment of allowing each process to inform the other. She explores the relationship between movement, body and sound through a listening practice since 2015, which has moreover stimulated her to ecological reflection in relation to the body and the ecosystems we are part of, as active listening inevitably includes the environment.
She has studied and trained Bharatanatyam since 1994 under her teacher and mother Diana Mikolai at the Abhinaya Dharpana School for Indian dance in Berlin. Sara has performed with the dance school since 1996, mostly but not limited to grass-roots organized events in the diaspora in Germany. She has performed her Arangetram (solo dance debut) in 2006 with a live orchestra at The Ethnological Museum of Berlin. She graduated in BA Dance, Context & Choreography at HZT Berlin (University of the Arts Berlin), as well as in the MFA in Performing Arts program at the Iceland University of the Arts, Reykjavik. She further holds a diploma in Bharatanatyam from the Oriental Fine Arts Academy of London. Currently she is conducting research in the MPhil in Fine Arts research program at the Department of Fine Arts, University of Peradeniya/Postgraduate Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences in Kandy, Sri Lanka. For her BA, MFA and MPhil studies she has received a scholarship by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes.
contact: saramikolai.pgihs@gmail.com
CV
Education
2020/present MPhil in Fine Arts,University of Peradeniya/Postgraduate Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences,Kandy
2019/2020 MFA in Performing Arts,Iceland University of the Arts,Reykjavík
2013/2016 BA Dance,Context,Choreography,Inter-University Centre for Dance(HZT)/UdK Berlin
2010/2012 BA Area Studies of Asia/Africa, Humboldt University of Berlin *
2015 Diploma in Bharatanatyam,Oriental Fine Arts Academy of London (Ofaal)
2012/2015 Carnatic vocal music (private lessons), Berlin
2010/2011 Mridangam drum (private lessons),Berlin
1993/2015 Bharatanatyam dance training,Abhinaya Tharpana Palli School for Indian dance,Berlin
Scholarships | Awards
2020/2022 German National Academic Foundation scholarship (Studienstiftung)
for MPhil in Fine Arts
2019/2021 German National Academic Foundation scholarship (Studienstiftung)
for MFA in Performing Arts studies
2015/2016 German National Academic Foundation scholarship (Studienstiftung)
for BA Dance,Contect,Choreography
2005 Bharatanatyam competition „Dit Dit Tei“, solo, main category: Varnam, 1st prize, artist title award Adet Kalayarassi, Gummersbach
Publications
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Mikolai, Sara. Listening – sound narratives of a dance. Listening Biennial/Reader, p.20-41. Berlin:Errant Bodies Press, 2021. Republication 2022.
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Mikolai, Sara. 2022. “On the interrelations between everyday life, artistic practice and resilience“ In: Moving Interventions 2: Between Non-cooperation and Community-building Practices of Resilience in dance – through dance – because of dance, December 2022. Translated (from English to German) by: Anja Tracksdorf (Tracksdorf Translations). Edited by / Herausgegeben von: Sarah Bergh and Sandra Chatterjee, with Ariadne Jacoby (CHAKKARs – moving interventions). Published by /veröffentlicht von CHAKKARs – moving interventions.
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Mikolai, Sara. Listening – sound narratives of a dance. Many forms of learning, Year Four - MFA in Performing Arts graduation publication, p.44-58. Reykjavík.LHI - Iceland University of the Arts, 2020.
Works & Performances
2022 Listening – sound narratives of a dance, Across Asia Film Festival,in collab. with Fuorimargine dance&performing arts production center of Sardinia,Sa Manifattura Theatre,Cagliari
2022 Listening–sound narratives of a dance,The Listening Academy,The Art Academy,Bergen
2022 Listening–sound narratives of a dance,Le Alleanze dei Corpi,Milano
2021 Echoes of Listening: being with,installation (video, sound, garden),with Isuru Kumarasinghe, Gangwon Triennial 2021,Gangwon,South Korea
2021 Echoes of Listening,audio recording,with Isuru Kumarasinghe,Listening Biennial,Berlin,Madrid, Bergen,Kolkata,Hong Kong,Guadalajara,Quebec City,Dundee,Buenos Aires,Istanbul, Melbourne, Budapest,Makhanda,Kurdistan,Nagaland,Taipei
2020 Listening–sound narratives of a dance,MFA graduation festival,LHI-Iceland University of the Arts
2019 performance at Ferment: Mutterkorn,apparatus GbR, with Jan Vahl,Uferstudios, Berlin
2018 installation (no name),artistic response,Parcours,Kösk München
2018 sakhi 03.04,Tanztage Festival,Sophiensaele,Berlin
2017 performance at Elegie - Pharmakon,apparatus GbR,Uferstudios,Berlin
2017 intervention 03.03,Hamamness-Wiener Festswochen,Vienna / Atmo performance art space,Berlin
2017 intervention03.02,ACCA-Australian Centre for Contemporary Arts,Melbourne/Shakti-Colombo Dance platform,Colombo/BA graduation festival,Uferstudios Berlin (2016)
2016 Archiv Nr 7,Spiegel Festival,Sophiensaele,Berlin / Tanztage Festival Sophiensaele,Berlin
2015 Mourning in Protest,concept Sara Mikolai,performance Garunya K./Sara Mikolai,Live Art Festival- Hamamness, Kampnagel, Hamburg
2014 Chapter One,lecture performance,The Dotted Dance Project,InZucht Festival, Uferstudios, Berlin
2013 Duppy Dance,with Tracy Rose,Salon de Gat: Rose's Casa “The Art of Living”,Berlin
2008 Bharatanatyam recital,Eastern University of Chenkalady,Sri Lanka
2005 Bharatanatyam,Arangetram,solo recital, Ethnological Museum of Berlin
since 1996 Bharatanatyam performances,solo & group with Abhinaya Tharpana Palli School for Indian dance
Residencies
2022 Celestial Bodies-Resonances,Vera Stasi,Tuscania,Italy - cancelled due to Covid-19
2019 Ferment: Mutterkorn,curated by apparatus GbR,Uferstudios,Berlin
2017 Pharmakon, apparatus GbR,Uferstudios,Berlin
2016/2017 Kasten Nr. 942n Exotischer Tanz,ARCHIV-ARBEIT VII,curated by Julius-Hans-Spiegel Zentrum, Sophiensaele, Berlin
Conferences | Lectures | Artist talks
2022 Research presentation,Université de Lille
2022 The Listening Academy, research presentation, The unfinished institution, Bergen
2021 Listening Biennial, artist roundtable, online
2020 Hugarflug Conference,with Michelle Saenz Burrola, Iceland University of the Arts, Rethinking the narrative of progress in Art, lecture performance,
2018 Decolonozing the Arts, Aesthetic Practices of Learning and Unlearning,UdK Berlin
2018 RAW Material Company,essay presentation:Dancing in the dark
2018 artist talk at Red Dot Gallery,Colombo
2017 artist talk at Gertrude Contemporary Art,Melbourne
2017 presentation at Program in Multi-Disciplinary Arts,Faculty of Fine Art,Chiang Mai University
2016 artist talk at Shakti-Colombo Dance platform, Colombo
2015 artist talk at Tanztage,Sophiensaele,Berlin
Teaching | Workshops
2022 On listening practices,New Academy of Fine Arts (NABA - The Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, Milano
2022 On listening, moving, resting and being,with FUORIMARGINE - dance & performing arts production center of Sardinia,Sa Manifattura, Cagliari
2022 On listening, moving, resting and being, Le Alleanze dei Corpi festival, KinLab Milano
2021/today undergraduate studies, visiting lecturer, department of Fine Arts, University of Peradeniya
2021 Choreography Camp,organizer/mentor/teacher,Colombo
2018 Choreography Camp, mentor/teacher,Kalpitya
2018 Listening to dance, Eastern University,Batticaloa
2018 Generating Material, workshop for BA students, HZT, Berlin
2018 CORPUS CALLOSUM,curated by Tracy Rose,RAW Material Company, fellowship faculty mentor, Dakar
2018 Decolonizing Arts:Practices of Learning and Unlearning,Studium Generale, UdK Berlin
2017 Bharatanatyam, morning practice for BA & MA students, HZT, Berlin
2012 Bharatanatyam, workshop, assistant teacher Erbil, Iraq
2011/2020 mentoring Bharatanatyam students in Berlin
2006/2016 Bharatanatyam, Abhinaya Dharpana Dance school for South Indian dance, all levels, Berlin
2006/2012 teachers training, Abhinaya Tharpana school for Indian dance
Selected appearances as a performer | Dramaturge
2018 White Porcelain, dramaturgy for Venuri Perera and Zwoisy Mears-Clarke,Colombo
2018 Speaking Feminisms, guest performer for Tracey Rose,Savvy Contemporary,Berlin
2016 Mixing Performance practices,by Noha Ramadan,performer, NGBK Berlin
2014 Khoshbakhti (Happiness),film by Zara Zandieh,dancer,Berlin
2014 studio disorder, by Rodrigo Garcia Alves, performer,Uferstudios,Berlin
2012 Ashta Nayika, Abhinaya Tharpana school for Indian dance, he Ethnological Museum of Berlin
*unfinished