
Sonalee has more than a couple decades of experience as an art professional . Her passion for the arts garnered her a position as a National scholar in the highly coveted, one of its kind national conservatory for theater in India, the National School of Drama. She has an additional masters in video production and a fellowship from the University of Maryland in Scenic Design.
She has conducted theater, art history and aesthetics workshops for post graduates in premier national institutes of India and directed and designed, (costumes and sets) for several plays in her native land as well as the East and West coast in the United States
Her photographs and paintings have been exhibited ,and have sold in solo shows as well as part of group exhibits in India, the East coast as well as the Bay area.
Additionally,she has been fortunate enough to be given fellowships that enabled her to learn woodcarving from Tibetan master carvers , puppets and mask making from the best master puppeteers in India, painting and drawing from international award winning artists and design from the best that both india and the United states have to offer.
She has learnt breathwork and pranayam as prerequistes for an actor, but has also continued to hone breathwork as a practise for life from meditators and gurus in India and the United states. She is an avid traveller and speaks 4 Indian languages, understands seven and her writings and translations have been published in three.
She is a firm believer in giving back to the community and her career reflects a consciously chosen balance between teaching at ace institutes in metropolitan cities and pro bono work in the villages of India, and inner city /rural /suburban outreach programmes in the United States.
As a teacher she has trained hundreds of students, who are now celebrated artists or teachers in their own right.
(Resume on request)