BIOGRAPHY

Sanjay Saverimuttu was born in West Lafayette, IN where he started taking ballet lessons under the guidance of his aunt, Sandra Peticolas, at Lafayette Ballet School. His main pre-professional training was in Boca Raton, FL at Boca Ballet Theatre under the directorship of Dan Guin and Jane Tyree. He attended summer programs at Ballet Austin, Boston Ballet, School of American Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet. He graduated salutatorian from Dreyfoos School of the Arts where he majored in Dance. Sanjay earned a BS in Biology from Stanford University. At Stanford, he continued his dance training under teachers Kristine Elliott, Muriel Maffre, Robert Moses, Diane Frank, and Alonzo King. He studied abroad in Cape Town, South Africa, where he worked and taught at Dance For All, an organization specializing in educating and training township youth in ballet and dance.

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Sanjay was a dancer in LAUNCH 7 at Northwest Dance Project, performing world premieres by Hanna Kiel and Robyn Mineko Williams. Sanjay joined Louisville Ballet in 2012 as a trainee and was hired into the main company two years later, the last hire of then Artistic Director, Bruce Simpson. As a dancer, Sanjay has performed in many classical and contemporary ballets. Some of those highlights include, Val Caniparoli’s A Cinderella Story, and Adam Hougland’s Cold Virtues and Romeo + Juliet, and Ronald Hynd's Merry Widow. He has also danced in works by George Balanchine, Andrea Schermoly, Robert Curran, and Brandon Ragland. Sanjay also teaches ballet at the Louisville Ballet School and Dance Centre in Elizabethtown. He has also guest taught at Lafayette Ballet Company, Boca Ballet Theatre, and Missouri Contemporary Ballet School.

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Sanjay has debuted many original choreographic works through Louisville Ballet’s Choreographers Showcase (Saligia, Strange Attractors, Sea Change, Sunrise, Amid Exes and Whys). He has also received commissions for his work from Louisville Ballet (And Don’t Talk About It), the Louisville Ballet Youth Ensemble (Spectrum, Always on Your Mind, After the Pulse, Ascension), Prelude for Botanica (Spring, Carnival of the Animals (4th Movement), Renverse Ballet (Serendipity), and Boca Ballet Theatre (Strata, Summer Waves, Anagapesis). He was a finalist in Ballet Arkansas’ Visions Choreographic Competition (Solomon’s Gift). His work, Always on Your Mind, was selected for the Gala night of the 2018 RDA SERBA Dance Festival. He received one of the inaugural grants from the Elevator Artist Resource, to help complete his first dance film, which premiered as a part of the Louisville Film Society Short Film Society. Sanjay is a member of the Hadley Creatives Class of 2019, a professional development program to elevate local Louisville artists in their careers. He produced Dis/Comfort Zones along with his fellow Hadley Creatives, where his work Respect the Boundaries debuted. Sanjay's been featured in Queer Kentucky  Pointe Magazine, and Stanford Magazine. He served as an Artist in Residence at the University of Kentucky's Dance Department, where he staged the new work, Against the Waves. He along with playwright, Allie Fireel, created Louisville's first professional choreo-play, The Movement, a work that addresses the value of queer friendships.