Mesma Belsaré

the Dancer

'...a tour de force.'

The New York Times

the Painter

Mesma Belsaré's professional dancing career includes solo performances at the Lincoln Center (NYC), Asia Society (NYC), Alvin Ailey Theater (NYC), The Lincoln Theater (Washington D.C.), Siri Fort (New Delhi) and the Harbourfront Centre (Toronto). She is a recipient of the 2022-23 Dance/USA Fellowship to Artists, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; Cambridge Arts Council Artist-Grant; New England Foundation of the Arts (NEFA) Dance Fund; and the Government of Delhi Classical Arts Scholarship.

Belsaré was trained extensively in the art of Bharatanātyam at the Kalapadma Dance Academy in Bhopal, India by Sri Shankar Hombal, and thereafter at the Natya Vriksha Academy, New Delhi, India by Padmashri Geeta Chandran. She received a Diploma in Bharatanātyam from Indira Kala Sangeet University, Khairagarh, India. Belsaré is continuing her studies under Maya Kulkarni in New York with whom she is co-creating new dance works.

Solo productions in addition to an extensive classical repertory includes Jatayu (2023), “Medea” (2022), "Plato's Allegory of the Cave" (2020), "In Each is Both" (2019), "Mohini" (2019), "Sāyankālé" (2019), "The Vermin's Will" (2017), “Unquiet Epics” (2012), “Zan: Women in the Shahnameh” (2010), "Carmine Bees" (2008) and Shilpa Nrityam (2002). Belsaré’s commissioned dance films Chinnamastā (2022) and 'In the Creator’s Gaze' (2020) made in collaboration with her mentor Maya Kulkarni were received with wide acclaim.

Theater credits include A Christmas Carol and When January Feels Like Summer (Central Square Theater, Cambridge, MA); Gehri Dosti: five short plays with a South Asian Bent (Harvard University, Wellesley College, Circle East, NYC [choreographer]); Tughlaq (Harvard University); Dance Like a Man (Harvard University); and opera The Bandit Queen (Holy Cross College and Boston University).

Besides being a dancer, Mesma is a visual artist. Her preferred medium is oil. She also paints in watercolors, ink and the digital medium.

Mesma holds an MA in Art Education from Massachusetts College of Art & Design, Boston, and a BFA in Applied and Fine Arts from Delhi College of Art, New Delhi. She served as a Museum Educator at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA, and thereafter as the Director of Education at MassArt Art Museum, Boston, MA. Mesma's paintings are held in public and private collections in the U.S., India, Canada, Britain, Holland, and France.

Belsaré, with a lifelong immersion in classical Bharatanātyam, music, visual arts and theater, derives inspiration from performing and visual arts alike. She currently lives and works in the New York area..

Click here for the painting gallery.

Audience Reviews

"A unique aspect of Mesma's performance is that you never know what will happen next. She transcends all mediums using an emotionally stirring blend of personal narrative, creative expression, and audience interaction."

"Watching her dance, paint, and sing was an eye opener for the need of expression as a way of explaining and exemplifying one's identity. Her creation of art in all forms focused on an idea so humanistic that forced me as the audience to reflect and connect with art in my own life."

Press Reviews