Meet Dr Yamuna Sangarasivam, The Odissi Artist Who Danced With Michael Jackson

Remember when Michael Jackson danced with an Indian classical dancer in the midst of traffic in his music video Black or White? The 1991 song was what one would call "ahead of its time," blending socially conscious lyrics with a groovy beat. Its music video is one of the King of Pop's most iconic releases, featuring symbols of numerous cultures. Among these was an Odissi dance sequence fused with Jackson's signature popping and locking moves.

The dancer in that video was Yamuna Sangarasivam, a Sri Lankan-American artist who was selected by Michael Jackson himself from over 3,000 auditioning dancers. The shoot took place on the Los Angeles expressway, bringing traffic to a halt for about 14 hours. The music video showed how art can impact culture and politics.

The video was released during the era of the Los Angeles race riots and the brutal violence against Rodney King—an unarmed black man—by four white Los Angeles police officers. Michael Jackson's video addressed the history of racism, challenged differences, and called to celebrate different identities.

Who is Yamuna Sangarasivam?

Born in Sri Lanka, Sangarasivam started dancing at age six. Her family moved to the US when she was nine years old. While staying in Odisha for her studies, she trained in the classical dance Odissi under the tutelage of revered guru Gangadhar Pradhan. She is also a Bharatanatyam dancer, a Carnatic singer, and a Western classical pianist.

Sangarasivam has studied Musicology and Piano at University of Minnesota, followed by Anthropology and Ethnochoreology at the University of California in Los Angeles. A huge fan of Michael Jackson, she auditioned for his music video while at UCLA. She has addressed its themes of diversity and transnational formations in her work today.

As an academic

In 2000, Sangarasivam obtained a Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology from Syracuse University. She is now the Director of the Women & Gender Studies program at Nazareth College in New York. She has taught and researched various fields like nationalism, conflict, cultural anthropology, gender studies, and class.

Sangarasivam authored a book in 2022 called Nationalism, Terrorism, Patriotism: A Speculative Ethnography of War, based on the 26-year Sri Lankan Civil War. The book explores an anthropological inquiry into the intersecting forces of nationalism, terrorism, and patriotism that "normalise the global war on terror," according to The New School.